The Time Assassin
by Meatbun Attack
Summary: Heng Shi is an assassin that gets the word traitor from his own family. Now he has to run away from home to survive, but running away from his life isn't that simple, so he takes help from second life. But it isn't easy to satisfy all of his needs just by playing a game... What will happen now? (First fanfic ever, writing gets better as the story progresses.)
1. Introduction

Hi Everyone! ^^ This is my very first ½ prince fan fiction. I wrote it 2 years ago, but since it was a little bit like Legend of the assassin I changed it a little.

This is only a short chapter since I still have to work with it a little, but I hope you enjoy it and give me tips. ^^

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><p>I am on a mission to kill a certain blackmailer. He is blackmailing one of our informers to prevent our organization from gaining Intel on other organizations, so my mission is simple, I'm going to end his life.<p>

Its night time and I spy at my prey on the roof tops. With my black clothing on, it is easy to blend into the dark so I don't have to worry about other people seeing me from up here. I can easily recognize the blackmailer from the descriptions our informer gave me. He has a colourful summer shirt on and a pair of sunglasses, why he wears sunglasses during night time is a mystery.

Since I don't want to get soaked in blood again (I did an assassins job before, and it was really messy) after I've just changed clothes, I simply put in some poisoning bullets in my gun and aimed carefully, making sure that my target is directly in front of where I'm going to shoot. When I pulled the trigger I saw the blackmailer slap his arm after a few seconds, like he had a mosquito there. I smile for myself and stand up. That is a very deadly special made poison, he will be dead after a few steps.

I turn around and start to walk away from the roof border as I hear screams erupt from the streets where my target was previously alive.

"He is dead now, but it was painless. If I had time, I would have tortured him some for blackmailing someone from our organization but… oh well." I think to myself.

I pull the hood away from my head and inspect myself in the glass of the door that leads to the stairs in this building. The moon is shining bright tonight as well as the stars, giving my white spiky hair a sort of silver glance due to the moonlight. I still have some stains of blood on my white cheeks from my last mission, my yellow eyes glowing with joy. Together with the shades in my face and my grin I really looked cool, or terrifying, whichever you prefer. I always wear my necklace that is the shape of an hourglass around my neck. It is my guild's treasure, the Xian Hong Shi. (Means black blood time) It is also a gift from my dead father, but only I am able to wear and use it. I have a black shirt on that's made out of cotton with matching trousers and gloves in the same fabric. I fix my black leather vest, which has a hood, and put my gun back in its holster.

"I totally love my job" I said to my mirror image. "Now, to go back to the base."

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><p>Just so you know, I do not come from an English speaking country. That is why It may be a few mistakes and punctuation errors, so sorry about that! ^^<p>

This chapter has been rewritten! ;)


	2. Betrayal

Alright, here is the real chapter. Since the first one only was an introduction.

Enjoy! ^^

I'm now on my way to the Xian Hong headquarters, running on the roof tops so that I will not draw too much attention to myself. Killing the blackmailer with poison went really quick, but I have to hurry back. Assassins sometimes gets a job were there is a time limit; you have to do the job and report to the elder within that time. My time limit for this job is one hour, but since I changed clothes before I went on the mission I wasted about 5 minutes. Now when I have killed my prey, is it only 20 minutes left. Just to drive with a car to this place of town takes 15 minutes. How will I be able to get there in time?

I bite the bottom of my lip in frustration, so hard that it begins to bleed. If I come late three times in a row, they will sooner or later suspect that I have done something else during my missions. Not that I know what else I could do other than killing during my missions, but you'll never know with those old ones as the leaders.

I feel someone ahead of me and I stop to hide behind a chimney to look at who it is. There on the roof sits a girl spying out on the streets, obviously looking for someone judging by the photo she's holding in her hand.

She has black clothes like I have and she holds her brown hair in a long ponytail at the nip of her neck. She has a scarf covering her nose and mouth, making her blue eyes the only thing that's visible. She must be an assassin judging by the clothes, but she just sits there with her feet dangling against the building wall, moving her head from side to side to look at all the different faces below.

But I can't just stand here hiding from a single person; I have to go to the base to report. And besides, that woman doesn't seem to be much of a problem. I step away from my hiding place and I start to slowly walk forward, but I quickly step back when I see someone come this way.

It is a man in a big black coat and a hat that shadows his face, preventing me from seeing anything else of his features except for his mouth. The man has white gloves on and he has some kind of crest on the right side of his torso on his coat. I have never seen that crest before…

He walks up behind the girl and ask her with a deep voice, which I can recognise but not really remember from where I've heard that voice before.

"Have you found him yet?"

The girl gasps in shock and quickly turns around to meet the owner of the voice. The man laughs loudly in amusement when the girl just stares at him. The girl snaps out from her trance by the man's comforting laugh and pulls up her feet to bow deeply towards the man.

"I-I am sorry master! I-I haven't found him yet. I am truly honoured that the master himself came to see me!" The girl replies nervously.

The man laugh again, sits down in front of the girl and lifts her head up too look at him by placing his walking stick underneath her jaw.

"Don't worry; you don't have to be so nervous around me all the time." I see a glimpse of a smile on his face. "So, you haven't found him even though I told you were his next mission was?"

I winced, is it me they are talking about? "No, I am sorry master. I have lost sight of him; he just blends in so fast. I saw him on top of a roof, but then he just disappeared within the shadows." The girl says and sits up straight, now looking eye to eye with her master but with his walking stick still under her jaw. "It isn't so surprising though, he is the best assassin around here."

I smile to myself; it is me they are talking about. The man snorts in disbelief at her words.

"I don't think that he is good at all. I think that he only got that title because of the treasure."

My hand moves automatically to my necklace while I frown in anger. Why would that man think that? I have great skills of assassination. And no one outside my organisation should know about this, how did this information leak through our net?

The man stands up and starts to walk away while he says to the girl with a cold voice. "Just find him, and bring him to the headquarters. You are not allowed to come back until you have him with you." The girl wince at his harsh words and tone, so much different than his previous calming one, and was about to say something. But she just looks into the ground in defeat and answers him with a deep bow. "Yes master"

The man goes back the same way that he came from and when he's gone, the girl looks around nervously before holding up the piece of paper in front of her face to stare at it for a while. I see in her eyes that she begins to smile, is it really a photograph of the one she's about to kill, or is it somebody else?

The girl turns around to sit in the same position as before, but instead of looking at the street, she's staring at the photo. I'm a bit curious who it is on that photo, so I slowly sneak to her; silently and carefully to look over her shoulder. I know it's not the best thing to do in this situation, but hey. Curiosity killed the cat.

My eyes widen a little at seeing the photo, it's me, when I was ten years old; I stand there with my arms crossed over my bare chest and a cool grin gracing my lips. The Elder Gim stands beside me and pats my head as if praising me for something.

My surprised look soon turns into a smile; it was such a long time ago. That was the first time I succeeded a mission with a time limit and made Gim proud of being my teacher. Without me knowing it I suddenly begin to talk out loud. "One of my few moments of happiness…"

The girl winces and begins to turn around at hearing someone behind her. But before she saw me, I had already disappeared thanks to my great speed. She just looks around with a puzzled face before shaking her head, taking my voice as her imagination and start to scan the streets again like the first time.

-time skip-

I am running in the sewers on my way to the secret headquarters. There's only one entrance and that entrance is invisible for all the other people except for the ones that are a part of the Xian Hong assassins' guild. The last headquarter we had was much better, but when enemies found our location it was the elders decision to move below the sewers. They didn't realise how stupid it is to only have one exit, but it's their loss.

I am running as fast as I can to come as early as possible, I am already late, 10 minutes to be exact, so I might as well not make those 10 minutes into 20. Or else I'll be in big trouble.

"Fuck, Gim is going to be really angry... "I say out loud with my teeth clenched in frustration.

Gim is the strongest among the elders, and also my master. Since I lost my parents a long time ago, Gim has been like a second father or grandfather to me, he has always been by my side to cheer me on. I turn left through the wall and disappear inside it with no traces left behind me.

This wall is actually the "invisible" tunnel and I'm now very close to reaching the hideout. The long tunnel is sloping slightly downwards to bring the headquarters under the sewers, like I said, it's their loss if the sewers break and the headquarter becomes flooded.

When I reach the gates, they are wide open; many assassins are on missions this time of hour, so the elders have ordered the gates to be open so that the assassins easily can get in and out from the building.

The big hall is the first room you walk into, with lots of doors to different rooms but it is also where the elders are found in the far side of the room. The big hall has two balconies on both sides of the elders where many archers are positioned to guard them. Behind the elders is a big gate were they can go through a secret passage. The passage will lead them towards the exit without bringing any harm to the one who goes through it.

In the big hall is where assassins take and report missions to the elders. It is also were everyone buy food from a small opening in the wall. The big hall looks more like a huge corridor than a room with the many doors and pillars lining the walls. Everything here is white except for the wooden doors, pretty boring to see it every day. It also brings some painful memories of mine to the surface…

I run straight to the elders, passing all the other people socialising with each other, and kneel down with my head looking down to the floor in respect for the leaders.

"I have successfully completed my mission! But since I came late because of some distractions I encountered, I am ready to take any punishment you may give me!" I say with a clear voice even though I'm breathing heavily after the long and intense run.

The girls around me begin to whisper and giggle to each other when they noticed me, completely forgetting to talk with the other males they're sitting together with. I always get as much hateful stares as I get admiring ones, but I don't care about either of them.

I take a deep breath to calm down my furiously beating heart a little and look up to the elders who are sitting in their thrones in a half circle in front of me.

Frieo, the best with arching, shakes his head and his red eyes are filled with disappointment that I'm late thrice in a row.

Baro, the best on the sword, doesn't look at me at all because he only has eyes for the food he holds in his hands with his big orange beard filled with spaghetti sauce.

Mali, the best in sneaking and hiding, just has her arms crossed over her big chest, not showing any emotion on her face.

Vilm, the best in hand-to-hand combat, looks depressed and bored when his green eyes meet my yellow ones.

Finally Gim, the best of them all, looks very angry and his grey hair is practically standing up due to his anger. I give all the elders a nervous smile, hoping that my face mask might take me away from my tight situation. Oh, how I was wrong…

"Garel stand up!" Gim says with his voice filled with anger and disappointment, his teal eyes burning holes in my forehead since I don't want to meet his gaze. I quickly stand up with a calm face and movements, but my heart is beating fast in nervousness. This is really bad…

Gim says with a more calm voice, but I can still feel his eyes burning holes in my forehead.

"So, let me ask you this Garel. Why did you come late? This is the third time in a row!"

I bow politely and answer his question with an equal calm voice as Gim used in the beginning of his sentence.

"I am sorry elder, I am well aware that this is the third time. But on my way here I heard some of our enemies talking and I felt that it was important that I stayed and listened. Some of this organization's secrets have leaked through our net."

The people around start to talk with each other more lively when I mention the information leaking. Damn, I wish that they would use a different room for the elders. That way, I could talk with the elders more seriously and not just about my missions.

I look up to Gim and the other elders to see how they take my information, but they obviously don't believe me judging by their faces. All elders have the same face, anger. And that anger is obviously directed to me, but why wouldn't they trust my information? Do they suspect that I've done something? Are they thinking that I'm the one who's leaking information just because I've been late?

I hear the doors next to the elders 'throne moon' open and other assassins, fully armed, run out from said doors and surround me. I keep my calm while I look around at all the assassins that are pointing their weapons at me. I look up to the Elders and ask them with slight confusion in my voice.

"What's this?"

Gim stands up from his throne and looks down at me with a disappointed look on his face that Says. "I would have thought better of you" The assassin, my brothers and sisters, look at the elder, awaiting their orders to obviously attack me.

I meet the teal eyes that belong to Gim with my face completely relaxed. Gim would not hurt me, would he? He's the one who 'raised' me and trained me, I'll take his place one day so why would he have a reason to kill me?

The elder point at me with his shrivelled finger and speak three sentences that I would never forget for the rest of my life.

"You Garel, have betrayed us. You have leaked information about this family to our enemies during your missions. This will cost you your lifeand you'll be executed."

After Gim said that I could feel my hands be tied behind my back and hear the sound of my own world as an assassin break.

Do you like it? ^^ I think I might be able to let him play second life in the next chapter.

Review if you wish for something special to happen, I am open for all suggestions! ^^

**Rewritten! ^^**


	3. Escape and the truth

Hi everyone! ^^ I hope you liked the last chapter, but I hope you will like this one too. :)

Since my school has started, I will try to update as fast as I can. But I will probably only write on weekends because of homework. (Stupid homework) But I can sometimes update it weekdays, so be sure to check. ^^

You might have noticed it already but I write ^^ a lot. It is just my favorite smiley! ^_^

Ok, enough of my babbling this is the third chapter. Enjoy! ^^

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><p>After my hands were tied tight with a thick rope, three of my companions began to escort me to the cells at the far end of the hideout. It were these threes' mission to capture me, all the others were just a distraction if I should have attacked.<p>

The three that are escorting me are the following, my former classmate Rim, who's walking in the front. - (All assassins goes in some kind of school in the headquarters when they start their training) – My former teacher in stealth, Agiene, walking behind me to my right and my former teacher in hand-to-hand combat, Lara walking behind me to my left. They have made this formation to prevent me from escaping, but it's not like they would be able to stop me if I tried.

I haven't seen my classmates or my old teachers since I became a top class assassin. I have always been busy with a lot of missions lately, so I never get the chance to associate with others. And even if I did have time, I wouldn't even bother with talking to them anyways; I'm not the social type. I would rather sit in my room than talking to people, at least if I have something to do. If I would have been bored, I might have socialized with them…

I sigh tiredly out of boredom and look to Rim and try to start a conversation, just to pass some time and maybe get rid of this stupid tension. When the tension isn't created by me, I can sometimes get irritated by it.

"Hey, Rim. Why do you want to put me in prison?"

Rim glance at me over his shoulder and quickly answer my question, with a lot of confident beneath his words I might add.

"Because you betrayed us, that's why."

He then turns away and resume his focus on walking, but the tension has grown even thicker than before because of my 'small-talk'. I sigh again but this time out of frustration.

"Man, you are such a pain. Not wanting to talk to me. Seriously, I have done nothing wrong. I just want to know why you're all so tense around me all of a sudden."

I stop when Rim turns around to glare at me, Lara and Agiene almost bump into me due to my sudden stop and they both stare at Rim in confusion but with their weapons still held at ready in case I'll attack.

Rim looks down at me with an angry expression on his face, just when he's about to say something to me, he shakes his head and resumes on walking. It looks like he's convinced that I've really done the things the elders are accusing me for… But why are they thinking that I've done those things? The last thing I would ever do is betray this organization. I've lived here my whole life, and I'm not about to change my mind about this place being my only home…

Agiene, seeing that Rim is getting further away from where she, I and Lara are standing, pushes my back hard with her weapon to get me moving. I glare at her over my shoulder, she almost made me trip! Who's the bastard that has set me up on this crime? When I find him, he'll wish that he was dead...

The base is huge, so it took a while until we got to the prison cells, since the elder wants the prisoners as far away from the exit as possible. Rim takes away all my weapons before he leads me into my cellar and cuts the rope off. (not the smartest thing to do in my opinion…) Nor he or my former teachers notice that before Rim exited the cellar I snatched the cellar keys from the back pocket of his pants.

These cells are designed to lock themselves when shut, so I don't have to worry if he should look after his keys to lock the door. When Rim is outside, standing in between my former teachers, he finally speaks to me.

"Since our enemies were seen outside our hideout a few days ago the elders came to the conclusion that someone is leaking information about us. But also, the same night as the assassins was seen by the secret tunnel you came late for the first time from a time limited mission. And these two other times that you have been late, other things has happened to us like food poisoning and informer blackmailing. But for some reason, you're never affected!"

When I hear all these arguments I can't blame them for thinking that it was me who leaked information. I close my eyes with a tired sigh to let the words sink in. When I open them again, looking just as bored as they've been through the small walk, Rim is pointing at me accusingly.

"That is why you are now a prisoner and will be killed tomorrow for your evil deeds, so be prepared to die tomorrow Garel."

With those words he, Agiene and Lara leave me alone in my cell. I rub the back of my head with a small smirk forming on my lips. They seriously think that they can make me stay here until tomorrow? I can't die just yet.

"Food poisoning? That has never happened today…" I say out loud, my voice echoing from the walls of the 'soon-to-be-empty' cellar. My weapons are lying at the table opposite to the cell, everyone has become careless and stupid as time flies by. First, they think they can keep me in a cellar. Second, they cut my ropes off, making me have full mobility. And third, they leave my weapons right in front of me. How stupid can they get? Are they seriously underestimating me? Or is this some kind of trap?

I walk to the cellar door and pull out the key from my sleeve. I carefully slink my arm through the electric bars to be able to touch the card reader on the wall next to the door. When the card connects with the card reader, the door automatically opens. Since I don't want to get burned by the electricity, I'm forced to follow the doors movement while still having my arm through its bars. I carefully slip my arm back out and turn towards my weapons.

It takes a few minutes to put on all my weapons back into place, but when I'm done I close the cellar door and leave the cellar key on the table where my weapons previously where. Now with my gun in the holster on my right hip, my sword on my back, my daggers in my shoes and my hidden knife on my right arm I am ready to break out.

I hold up my necklace, the hourglass, and watch as the never ending sand runs through it slowly. I smirk slightly in thought; they may be able to catch me off guard and capture me but that won't work a second time. This time I won't witness someone I saw as a 'father' for years, betray me as distraction. I look down at the cellar key and think loud, a little bitter at the mere thought.

"I will never be able to come back to this life no matter what I do…"

I start to feel a little sad, a feeling that I haven't felt for a long time. The last time I felt a little sad was when I graduated early from the assassin's school to go over as elder Gims apprentice. I was 8 years old at that time, which makes it 15 years ago since the last time I felt sad. I let out a big sight before stretching my body. "Alright, it's better to live than die." I encourage myself as I begin to walk down the hall to continue my escape.

Since my room is only a few doors away from the prison cells, it doesn't take long before I walk inside to bring my stuff with me. My room is very small, like every other room here in this guild. I think I will miss this room a little… I have been living here my whole life after all…

The only things that fit into my room are a bed, a small wardrobe and some posters on the walls. My bed is made in plain wood with black and white sheets, my wardrobe is also plain wood and the posters are only some that I found lying on the streets during my missions. It is of some bands that I've never heard of; I just brought them with me because I thought they looked cool.

I pull out my dark blue backpack from under my bed and start to pack most of my clothes from my wardrobe. The bag isn't big enough for all my "blend in" clothes, but it should be enough for at least a week. I think I will also take one of my personal belongings, like my ocarina that is said to have been my mother's.

I look at it for a while with a rare soft smile on my face, it's not a common thing that I smile, and I prefer to not show any emotion other than hate, anger or irritation. That way, more people would be afraid of me which will lead to me being alone.

This ocarina is shaped like a seashell* where you can turn the middle "part" of the ocarina to change key. I have played on it many times, so I am pretty good at it. It always makes me relax when I play, but I've never figured out why. I feel like playing now but I can't, I have to get away first and begin with my new 'common' life.

I carefully put the ocarina in my backpack and close the zip. I stick my arms in the straps and look down at my necklace for the second time since my escape. "It's time to escape" I say to myself and grin excitedly of what is going to happen.

I sneak out of my room, checking both sides of the corridor just to be sure that no one's nearby before I walk out completely, shutting the door behind me. I start to run along the corridor as quiet as I can. (It sounds like he is walking)

But something feels wrong, like I am forgetting something. I have my weapons, I left the key, I have packed all my things and… what else?

I don't get any more time to ponder it since I hear footsteps coming this way. I slow down so that my footsteps are synchronized with the other person, making the other person think that my footsteps are just an echo of his own. Before passing the first corner of the base's maze, I stop and wait for the person to come closer. I don't want to risk blowing my cover just after I got out from my cellar.

The footsteps are only inches from rounding the corner as I jump up in front of the person, making him surprised by my sudden appearance. He's about to scream for someone as I punch him hard in the face, a one hit knockdown.

The man falls to the ground and land with a loud "bam" before I even get the chance to catch him. Just like I thought, 3 more persons come running around the corner on the other side of the corridor and spot me where I stand over the unconscious man.

Quickly, before they can scream for backup, I press a button on the top of my hourglass. The time rewinds at my command, which is the special treasure that only I possess. The ability to control time.

I rewind to where I just hit the man and he is falling to the floor. I then calmly walk to where the other men are going to come from and position myself behind them so that they can't see me. I press the button again and I can hear the man land with a "bam" for the second time. The men start to run to the scene and I am safe, like I never was there. I walk away proudly, grinning widely at my accomplishment.

To get to the big hall isn't too hard; most of the assassins are already sleeping and there are just a few guards awake at this hour. If I spot any guards, they are most likely sleeping or just facing another way. They are such lazy asses, slacking off their job…

As I finally navigate myself through the maze, being sure to not take the paths that are filled with traps during this hour, I look around the corner that will lead me to the big hall. To my surprise, I see an old man's face with other older people sitting beside him to create a half-moon shape with their chairs. Shit, I'm by the elders; did I take a wrong turn somewhere?

I don't have the time to go back through the maze to get to the door closest to the exit and if I use my power for too long to run through the big hall to the exit, elder Gim would notice me. My only way out of here is through the elders escape door… I don't like using my power so often when I'm not fighting or in trouble, since I want to achieve my goals by myself to prove that I can survive even without my power, but I have no choice in this matter.

"Was it really the right choices too call Garel a traitor before hearing his part of the story Gim?"

I wince in surprise and glance at the slender woman in shock, is it just me or did Mali just talk? The one that is the quietest person in the whole Xian Hong asked a question about Gim's decisions? That's a rare occurrence…

"Hmm" Muses Baro while stroking his bushy beard. "I must agree with Mali on this one chief, the boy didn't even have the time to tell what purpose he had for being late."

Frieo nods in agreement at Baro's words. But Vilm decides to take Gim's side in this argument.

"Seriously, you three have no idea what you are talking about. All the times that he has been late he always says that he had some ´distractions´, and every time our enemy has made a move towards us in different ways. How can he not be innocent? He can easily use his power to stop time and just come here after having a meeting with our enemies!"

The other three elders look down on their feet I thought, so am I while I'm leaning against the wall. Gim speaks up with a clear, serious voice, leaving no question in this argument. It sounds like a threat to me, but I could be wrong on that part.

"We all agreed that he was the traitor, even if it breaks my heart to kill him I have to for the sake of my family. He seemed like such a good boy with all his talents, but a traitor is a traitor. He is to be executed tomorrow."

I peek around the corner again to see the look on his face when he said that, but the expression I see isn't something I've ever imagined to appear on that old man's face. Gim is smiling, not that gentle or happy smile, but an evil and twisted smile, like he's proud over what he's accomplished.

Even if the face disappears a second later it really takes me by surprise, to think that elder Gim can hide such a face beneath his mask makes me pissed. He probably doesn't want me to take his place as the best elder since the rumors went on that part, it's soon time for him to retire and step back for the new elder and no one is more fitted for that title other than me.

He might be the one who leaked the information and told them what to do and when, only an elder would know exactly where the mission is and who's doing it. Gim knows that I don't freeze time during time missions, that's why he let assassins hinder me from getting back to the base in time. And when he protected me the first two times, he managed to convince everyone that he still cares for me.

I clench my teeth in anger as I make the time stop without pressing the button of my necklace. The world around me freezes as I step inside the big hall and jump up behind elder Gim. I can't kill him just yet, no matter how much I really want to, the guild still needs a leader. So I settle with whispering threats in his ear with a deep and cold voice filled with hatred towards the old man.

"I know you wanted to get rid of me, you're childish to think that you can keep your place as elder until you die. But I have time on my side, so no matter how much you try; you'll never be able to get rid of me. Just to warn you, you won't die from old age. "

I open the large wooden doors with no difficulty and walk inside the escape tunnel, taking a last glance at the man I thought was like my father. I turn around and slam the door shut, leaving all my memories of that man behind.

I knew I should have never let that man into my life… Bonds for someone like me will never work…

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><p>This is one of my favorite chapters so far! ^^ (I know I have only written two, but anyway) I think my character is so cool! I wish I could be like him *Sight* But that will never happen… :'(<p>

*Have you seen Pokémon movie 2? Yea, it's like the ocarina that the little sister plays, only this one is more like a seashell than a choral.

I am sorry but he will get the game in the next chapter and then he will start playing it the chapter after that. Even though I said that he might begin to play in this chapter.

Please review! ^^

**This chapter has been rewritten. ;)**


	4. True happiness at last

Hi everyone! I have a lot of time on my hands right now, so I thought that I should give out the next chapter. ^^ The first week on my school is very slack so I spend my free time on writing. ;)

Anyway, enjoy! ^^

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><p>I wake up in a bed; the sun shining on my face through the window to my right. I mumble grumpily, but gets up in a sitting position and scratch the back of my head while I yawn loudly. I slowly open my eyes, looking around in the bedroom, silently wondering how I even got here. I yawn again and look at the time display on the digital watch next to the bed; it shows 8.30 the same time I get up but 12 hours earlier.<p>

I smirk in satisfaction; I'm beginning to turn my days around. That will make it much easier to stay awake during the day.

I scratch my head again as I stand up from my bed and stumble over to my backpack, which is leaning against the wall underneath the window. As I'm looking for some good clothes I start too search in my head how I got here.

I find a black t-shirt with a print in the shape of a wolf howling towards the moon. As pants, I just take some comfortable long light brown shorts. My memory from yesterday is still a bit hazy… That is until I look closely at my slightly dirtier backpack.

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><p>-Flashback-<p>

I am running through the "secret tunnel", away from my family that wants me dead. The sadness comes back to me little by little and I gradually slow down. I burst out from the 'wall' inside the original sewers and turn left to where I know the closest ladder is that leads up to the surface.

That old man… treating me so nice and then it is like he doesn't even care about me anymore, decides to kill me just to keep his place as elder. He creates fake arguments to make the other elders take his side instead of mine, the one who would become the next elder and would succeed him. I was really shocked when he said that I was a traitor, I was so naïve believing that that man was never going to hurt or punish me because he raised me with such care… I should have listened to my conscious earlier; I shouldn't have trusted that man.

Finally I start to climb up the ladder, pushing the cover away before I stick out my head to breathe in the fresh air. When I look to the sky, I can see the sky shining bright blue instead of the dark blue I'm familiar with. It is in the middle of the morning, the time when the most people are at work.

I carefully climb out from the hole, trying to avoid getting even more dirty than I already am, and put the cover back on the sewers opening. When I don't spot any other people before in the alley, I start to remove the most of my weapons and put them in my bag.

I also changed my black long-sleeved shirt to a white one, putting my black vest over it. Now that I look like a normal person, just a little dirtier than the rest, I walk out from the black ally in search for a hotel to stay in for the night.

After an hour of walking around aimlessly I finally find a decent hotel to stay at. It's still 4 hours left until the sun goes down, so I have to stay awake until that time. I have to grow accustomed to living in the sunlight and not being the night's killer shadow.

I eat lunch at a restaurant next to the hotel I'm staying at (More like brunch for me) and walk over to an estate agency that I passed a few minutes ago to find an apartment, possibly a free apartment but an apartment available for renting would be just as good.

The estate agency says that there aren't any free apartments around here for sale, but there is an apartment that's being rented out. The dead line for that apartment is very soon, so they tell me that I can move in tomorrow, they just have to call the owner first. I get a piece of paper explaining how to find the address and a file that I'm supposed to fill in with information that will show that I'm the 'owner' of the apartment.

Them seeing how tired I am, I manage to easily slip through writing down my information and just give them my name instead. I give them a small thankful smile with my face mask and walk out the door. But not without hearing some of the girl employees screaming 'KYA BISHIE!'. I'm so tired right now that I can fall asleep while standing… So I quickly go to my hotel, to my room and fall asleep the moment my head hits the pillow.

-End flashback-

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><p>I sigh tiredly while rubbing the tiredness out from my face.<p>

"So that's what happened? I actually hired an apartment yesterday?"

I pick up my vest from the floor next to my back pack and begin to search in my pockets for the piece of paper. And there it is, 'xxxstreet number 33 on the second floor next to the coffee shop'. I scratch my spiky-haired head thinking how tired I was yesterday; I don't remember much of what that employee said to me.

I stretch my body just as my stomach begins to growl loudly. Well, it's time to eat breakfast, but first, I have to shower. After five minutes when said shower was done, I put on the clothes I picked out from before, throw my white shirt and black pants by my backpack and walk out the door with my vest over my shoulder. I make sure that I have the key to my room before I close it behind me to eat some breakfast.

The breakfast at this hotel is great; it is a big breakfast buffet with all sorts of things, the pancakes are something I've never tasted before. I take a little bit of everything, but even with my big appetite I become super full after only two plates.

I feel very content with having food in my stomach once again, last time I ate was during lunch time, and I missed dinner since I was so tired. And the best part is that I could go in and take breakfast 5 minutes after it would originally be cleaned up. And it was obviously a girl who opened the door for me when she heard my stomach growling. It was quite embarrassing eating with at least 4 girls watching me with pink heart eyes when they should have been busy putting away all the food.

It really sucks to be too much of a bishie sometimes, but it also has it bright sides. I am now leaning against the wall in front of the elevator door, bored out of my mind as I'm waiting for it to come down to my floor. I just want to go to my room, get my stuff and then get going again. I don't want to waste any more time than needed in this hotel.

A 'pling' rings out, signalizing that the elevator's finally here. I stare at the doors as they slowly open to reveal a girl with brown hair and blue eyes. She's laughing and is about to step outside the elevator, but when she sees me, she stops altogether.

Now that the elevator door has opened to it's full extent, I can see a blonde girl next to the brunette, staring at her in confusion.

"Hmm? What's wrong Hei?" The blond girl asks her brown haired friend, waving her hand in front of her face. I sigh in annoyance, making the blond girl turn to look at me as well. Seeing me with my still slightly damp hair, leaning against the wall must be a little too much on the 'bishie meter' for these two girls since the blonde too freezes on the spot.

I get up from the red wall and make my way towards the elevator with the girls still gawking at me, following my every move as I walk. I stop the door just when it's closing and look at the two girls with a cool grin. Unfortunately, it would have a more 'bishie effect' if I was taller, but I'm in eye-height with these two.

"You are going out, right? Because you girls don't seem to be moving at all."

I say to them calmly while placing my other hand on my hip. The colour of the two girls faces would even put a tomato at shame, and all I have to do to make girls do this amusing reaction is talking to them casually. I chuckle on the inside but still keep the grin present on my face mask. It's so much fun to mess with people…

The two girls quickly step out from the elevator and say sorry to me multiply times while bowing in apology. I walk in and press the button to the third floor while waving at the still red-faced girls until the door shut closed, which leaves me alone in the elevator.

'Phew' luckily I have trained my fake image for so many years to use in public; if I would have been myself they would have hopped onto me and scream 'bishie'. 'Sigh' it's hard to keep the 'face mask' up since I haven't trained on it for a long time. But I will get used to it, I hope… "Pling" The door opens up on the third floor and I walk out of the elevator with the door closing itself behind me, I will just take my things and then I will go to my now rented apartment. I'm glad I managed to escape from signing the papers yesterday.

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><p>It doesn't take long until I'm standing in front of the building. It is not too large and not too small either, my apartment is a double apartment just like all the other ones in this building. I can feel a lot of people watching me from the coffee shop and the street, but I don't feel like sparing either of them a glance, so I walk inside the building towards my new apartment.<p>

I press the button for the doorbell on number 33 and a middle aged lady appears in the opening to the apartment immediately after I rang. The woman seems to be at least 35 or 40 years old, her blond hair is curly and her green eyes are watching me from top to toe. Her intense gaze stops on my face and she studies it carefully for a long time.

I'm getting really annoyed that she's inspecting me like I'm some kind of object, angry veins appear on my forehead the longer she studies me.

"Are you the one that is going to live in my house while I am in Africa?"

The woman asks me with her voice filled with excitement. I put on my face mask for good measure and smile at her while crossing my arms.

"Yea, believe it or not but here I am"

The woman gives me a big smile and a death hug, almost squeezing me to death thanks to the big differences in height (and mass). I try to push her off me with as less force as possible, but it will be impossible to remove her from me without using inhuman force.

"I am so happy to meet you Garel! The one from the estate agency called me yesterday and told me you are a super bishie! I just couldn't believe that it was actually true!"

I wince, what the hell? How dose she know my name!? Wait, I must have said my name to the agency, but why didn't I choose an alibi name?

"Um… excuse me lady. But you are squeezing me to death" I manage to wheeze out to the lady even though my lungs are almost empty on air. The woman releases me quickly and shifts a little, flustered that she squeezed me so hard.

"I-I am sorry Garel. I don't know what got through my head just now." The woman says nervously, but I just wave it away while laughing.

"Don't worry about it; it happens to me all the time. But you said wrong name actually, my name is not Garel. I just want that name; it sounds better than my real name."

"Well… I heard it from the agency, so I thought it was your real name…" She defends herself with a confused expression on her face. I snort defensibly while rubbing the back of my head, the fake smile once again being placed on my face.

"Well, I didn't sleep well before then so I was really tired at the time."

The woman looks even more confused than before and I begin to panic slightly on the inside. Damn! I need to come up with a name fast! The woman leans down a little so that she's now in my height and asks me with suspicion in her voice.

"Well… what is your name then?"

Yeah, I agree with her, what is my name now? Then it hit me, a brilliant name that fits me perfectly. My smile grows a bit larger as I reply to her politely.

"It's Heng, Heng Ru Shi. But for you it's Heng Shi." The woman seems happy with my answer and I breathe out in relief on the inside. Lucky for me that she's one of those dense people…

The woman stretched out her hand towards me; I hesitate before I take it in my own to do a hand shake. The woman smiles warmly at me and says happily, her fae practically glowing by the brightness in her voice.

"It's nice to meet you Heng Shi. I am Gun Fang Jung, and I say welcome to my home that will be yours for the time being." I nod with a smile once again, since the last smile had died out when the woman held out her hand, and walk inside my apartment. This is going to be interesting...

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><p>My little tour with Gun (she forced me to call her that) was very short, so after she showed me my room I quickly got inside and closed the door behind me to escape the woman's constant blabbering.<p>

I'm now packing up the few things from my backpack so that I don't have to dig through it every time I need something. My cheeks hurt a little for holding up my fake smile for so long, it must have been at least three months since I was forced to smile this much, so I need some time alone to rest.

As I look around my new room, I notice that this room is decorated just like I've always wanted it; it has black walls with green stalks painted on them so that it would give a more natural effect than just the same pattern all the time. My bed is a big aluminium bed with Green sheets to match the stalks on the walls and a very comfortable mattress. (I already tried it out)

I also have a very own light yellow sofa standing to my right with a similar 'bedside table' next to it like the one that's standing by my bed's head. On the opposite side of the room in front of the sofa is a desk with a great high technologic computer and a lamp next to it, but it is also a present on the desk that I don't bother with touching since it's probably meant for someone.

When I do a 180 degree turn I also notice that I have a normal sized mirror on the left side of the door. Well, if you ask me I would think that this room was almost made for me to live in.

I can suddenly hear Gun knock on my door lightly and before I can tell her to not go inside, she's already inviting herself in. I quickly put on my face mask and form a surprised expression at her sudden arrival. She smiles happily at me, her face glowing so much that I'm tempted to cover my face at the brightness.

"Do you like it?" She asks with her light voice. I give her a small real smile (that doesn't happen very often) and nod in confirmation. Gun laughs in relief when she sees my nod and blushes slightly from my 'dazzling' smile.

"I'm glad you like it, this is my sons' old room so I thought that someone in your age might like it."

"Yea, I love it. Just my stile" I reply, smiling even brighter than before but adding my fake smile this time since my real smile can't get as bright. Gun turns red as a tomato and begins to hop up and down in excitement like a little kid.

"Have you opened your present yet?" I raise an eyebrow in confusion at her question.

"Present? So that present is for me? But I haven't done anything to deserve this." I say, pointing lazily at the orange present lying on the desk. Gun's excited smile shifts into a softer one as she walks up to me and places her hands on both of my shoulders, I winch slightly at her touch but other than that I don't do anything else than observing her. You can't be too careful with the ones who appear innocent…

"Yes you have. You are the first to even consider renting this apartment, and that is enough for me. And besides, I decided that if someone decided to rent my apartment only a few days before I go to Africa, I would give them this. I got it from a friend of mine who works as GM at second life, so it will give you some special access."

My eyes widen slightly in disbelief at her words. What the… hell? She means that she is giving away the most popular online game to a random person? (I've heard a lot about it lately) Gun laughs at my chocked and confused face, her smile getting excited once again as she finally lets go of my shoulders.

She walks the two steps to the desk to the present slightly behind me; I turn my body so that I don't have my back turned towards her when she picks up the present that's meant for me. When she holds it out for me to take, I just stare at the orange box unemotionally, not moving an inch.

"Go on, open it." She says in a demanding tone, I debate with myself if I really should open it or not, but my curiosity wins over my common sense and I take the box from her hands. With one hand I swiftly rip off the orange paper to reveal the game box of second life which has a green background with a skull with two roman numerals behind said skull in the middle. In the box includes a sleeping gadget so that I don't have to buy one separately.

I look up at Gun with a real smile, slightly brighter than the last real smile I showed her earlier, and say in both happiness and surprise.

"Thank you Gun-Gun."

This must be the first time in a really long time that I smiled two real smiles in one day as well as unconsciously giving a person a nickname…

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><p>YAY! Another great chapter! ^^ This was really a sweet one, wasn't it? I thought that Gun would show deep kindness to Heng Shi so that he would be happy after all that happened too him the other day. And that he would not smile with his fake happy smile, but with his real happy smile. I think it's kind of cute! ^^<p>

I will update very soon, so keep on watch!

**This chapter has been rewritten! ^^**


	5. Starting the game

Hi everyone! ^^ My updates went very smooth last week. Have already done four chapters! Hurray! ^^

In the last chapter Heng Shi got second life and a sleeping device. I will jump directly too when he start too create his character. It is the day before the release date for second life so he just comes in before anyone else, because his helmet came from someone who is a GM. He and Gun have just eaten dinner together and he starts to play second life immediately after. And he has opened up a little for Gun, so he calls her Gun-Gun instead.

I have changed it a little, adding his outfit that he will wear to the end of my fanfiction. (It will take a loooong time to finish the hole story)

Alright here it is! ^^

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><p>Everything is pitch black, I start too look around and wonder if it is something wrong with my device when a sudden strong light blends me for a moment. A pretty girl with long straight black hair and a helmet with a big number 6 on it and sits on a floating chair that moves towards me. She blushes while she says in a monotonous voice. "Hi, and welcome too second life. You seem to have contacts with one of our GM's according to your ID-number in the helmet. This way, you are able too play second life one day earlier than the other players, giving you a chance too explore the area. But you will not be able too level up before tomorrow. Since this is your first time playing, please give us a moment to scan your body and record your vocal frequency. That way, you will be able to immediately enter the game once you put the game helmet on"<p>

I calmly wait as two scanners scanned me. She smiles at me, still blushing from my appearance. "Right, now you may begin to create your character. Before you proceed, I must remind you that you will have only one chance to create a character. Once created, your race, name and appearance cannot be changed." She said to me holding up a finger as if she is teaching a child. I chuckle on the inside, that girl is a little amusing. A bright light flashes around me as I glance up, noticing how many various creatures there are. How surprised I may be, I didn't let it show on my face.

The girl continues "First, choose the race you like. The races are basically divided into humans, elves, dark elves, dwarfs, celestial, demons, elemental and beasts. Beast can be divided into wolves, birds, dogs, pigs and turtles. The elemental can be divided between flower spirits, tree spirits, wind spirits, stone sprits, water spirits and grass spirits." I look around all the different races, all of them either smiling or glaring at me. The demon looks totally bored while the wolf sniffs around. I whistle and say "Wow, there are a hell lot of races in second life huh?" I look back to the black haired girl, she is still blushing. I let out a sight; can't there be any girl who doesn't blush when she sees me? Seriously… "Well, can I see myself as a demon, celestial and an Elf?" I ask in a more bored tone, revealing a little bit of my true attitude. The girl winched, like waking up from a dream, and quickly snaps her fingers making three versions of myself appear before me.

The demon me, seems quite brutal and dangerous with his yellow eyes and his black hair in a long ponytail. The celestial me, its sending out a very majestic aura with his big white wings, long blond hair that reaches his shoulders and blue shining eyes. The Elf me, he is more like a cool bishie with a pale and smooth skin but he seems more normal with the pointy ears, brown spiky hair and green eyes. I really like the demon with his brutal appearance but the elf is nice too, the celestial is too much majestic so I don't want too look like that. But I really want to let my brutal side out but I also want too look like a normal guy, so the elf would be the best choice.

I look up at the girl; she is starring at me and my three characters with big heart as eyes. Man, can't she stop with the starring already? "Hey! Focus!" I startled her with my sudden, cold outbreak. She blushes so much that even her ears gets red. "I-I am sorry, I just got distracted for a while there." She says defensibly looking into my eyes. I give her a cold glare and throws back at her. "Yea, I can see that you are very easily 'distracted' by hot guys." She opens her mouth wide; I plug my ears with my fingers just before she burst out "KYAAA! BISHIEEE!" I just stand there, still plugging my ears, waiting for her to stop screaming.

"Hey, are you done yet?" I ask the GM after 3 minutes of her screaming torture. She immediately stops in her movements (she was dancing in her chair) and sits in the exact same position as when I entered this creator room. "So-sorry, I just couldn't hold it back any more. You are just too hot!" she suddenly burst out. I waved it away crossing my arms and close my eyes coolly. "I have decided on elf, so can you please send away the other two and change my eye and hair colour to what I have in real life?" "Sure!" The GM replied, snapping her fingers as I heard a 'poof' as my other characters disappeared.

I opened my eyes again and saw me, like I was standing in a mirror. Only the ears are pointy, sticking out. The elf me is giving me a bright smile, as I glare at him. "Hey, don't be so nice." I said and the elf changes his facial expression too a more brutal one. The GM just squeaks "Bishie" again making me glare at her. "Alright this is the character I want, can I leave now?" The girl winches and stares at me with chock. "No not yet, you have too make wishes first! You have contacts with a GM, so you will have two wishes!" She blurts out. I chuckle on the inside again; this woman is so very annoying, but also amusing sometimes. I close my eyes too think about what I want that no one else will get? Smiling I open my eyes looking at the girl. "Alright, I want a sword that can change shape. And I want too be a magic swordsman." I said, still crossing my arms. The girl nods and closes her eyes; I wonder what she is doing.

After a few minutes the girl opens her eyes again and says with a happy voice. "Your request has been accepted, you will be the only one in second life too have a shape shifting sword, but this sword will be a growing type sword." A sword pops up in the avatars hand; it is shaped like a katana and glowing in blue. "This sword will be able too shift too 4 weapons first, but will gain more transformations as it levels up. There is the katana, the twin blade with chains..." The katana changes to two T shaped swords* "the heavy blade and the pistol." The katana shifts too the different weapons in turn, glowing and the shape slowly shifts too the weapon.

I really like the heavy blade; it is as long as my body also glowing in blue. But as the blade changes, so does the holster and when it is the heavy blade it is on the back. That looks very cool. "And as the different class, you will also be the only one able too get it but you have too be at level 10 and complete the quest that is given too you before you will gain the class." She smiles at me full with joy. I smile back and says to the GM. "My name will be Sabre and I will be born at the central continent. But can I have my weapon with me when I wake up?" The girl nods and snaps her fingers again.

I feel myself being fused with my character and starts too fall. The ground is approaching me quickly but thanks too my skills, I easily land on my feet. I smiled, now I have entered second life. My sword is falling from the sky, I catch it easily too. I change my sword to the heavy blade mode and put it on my back, the holster holding it still with two belts on the middle of the sword and a shorter holster at the end of the blade. I have some newbie clothes on, but i will soon change it to a more cool looking clothing after i have killed some monsters. Looking around, the town is very empty except for some NPC's. I am completely alone, ready too kill some monsters. Let's see how great monsters I can kill, using all the skills that I have got. I only have the title as the country's best assassin because I have held back. But here, I can let my evil side set free. I walk towards the lvl 5 monsters, with blood thirsty eyes and an evil grin like the devil itself.

My lonely day at second life wasn't too bad. I got too explore some good mobs and was able too kill level 13 monsters after a while of slicing. I also bought some clothes, It was a red t-shirt with a black skull on and with that i bought a long black jacket that goes down too my knees. The jacket has plates on the shoulders and elbows and has a few chains here and there, it also have a neat collar framing in my neck with a dark blue colour. I keep the jacket open. I also bought some black pants, matching the jacket with the chains and a red beltto go with it. This look was more my stile. Even if I didn't get any experience, it was still fun too kill. Feeling blood get stained at me and seeing the monsters life force slowly drift away. This is truly paradise for me.

I haven't been feeling so exited for weeks, last time was during a job where the target was guarded by some other hired assassins. But, since it is already 8.30 I logged out automatically and woke up from my glorious dream. I hear someone sing in the kitchen, so it seems that Gun-Gun is already up and making breakfast. She will leave too Africa at 15.30 so I will soon have this apartment for myself. I yawn and put on some fresh clothes before walking out of my room, turning left towards the kitchen. The smell of pancakes fills my whole being as I walk inside the kitchen. Gun-Gun has her back towards me slightly dancing while flipping pancakes. "It smells good Gun-Gun. Can I have a taste?" Gun-Gun turns and looks at me with a smile. "Of course you can Heng Shi! I didn't know you would wake up this early, was second life fun?" She asks before turning too the pancakes again. I lean against the wall, closing my eyes while smiling. "Yea, it was the best thing I have done in weeks. Thanks again for giving it to me." She laughs, making her blond hair bounce "No problem!" I walk too the cabinets over the sink and takes out two plates and two glasses and begins too lay the table for the two of us.

After breakfast, I decided to go out and shop some clothes. It didn't take me long until I found a store with lots of good clothes. I tried not to buy to many dark clothes, so i took some colourful ones as well. I will never be an assassin any more, so I might as well get used too light clothes. I came home at 16.00 to an empty apartment. I have now two big bags filled with both dark and light clothes in my wardrobe. And right now, I am just cleaning the four rooms waiting until the sun sets, so that I can play second life again. Who knows, maybe I will kill a high level monster today. A big grin is spreading across my face.

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><p>*The twin blade that black star uses in soul eater<p>

Review! ^^


	6. The phoenix and Bolin

Hi everyone! ^^ Me and AnimeVamp1997 have decided too cooperate. We agreed too let our two assassins character meet in the game, it is totally awesome! ^^ They will meet for the first time in this chapter, Jing having the upper hand. I hope you like it! ^^

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><p>Now my apartment is sparkling clean, so it is time too make some dinner. I just put a pie in the microwave and dug in as soon as it is ready. I want too start playing second life again, I want to level up and be able to cast spells. Last time I played second life, I didn't get any experience. But I did get some cool techniques like Weapon brake level 2, Strangle level 4, quick dodge level 3 and sonic slash level 1. I can kill level 13 monsters, so that I can level up too level 10 very fast. Finally the sun has set, but before I begin playing I have to write a tomorrow-doing-list. First of all, I have to begin in school so I will look at some decent schools around the area. And second, I have to go shopping again to buy food supplies.<p>

My list wasn't too long, so when I was finished I went too my bedroom and got too sleep with my game console on.

I open my eyes in the newbie city, were more and more people begin to fall from the sky. Now the second life game begins for real. I start too walk towards the level 10 forest immediately. A lot of girls' stares at me as I pass by, but I didn't even give them a second glance. Someone is poking on my shoulder; I turn around to see a blushing pink haired girl with green eyes stare at me. "Um… c-can I train with you?" She says, blushing even more. I gave her a grin while saying. "No, I am the type who works alone." I turn around and start to walk again, the girls around me screaming "Kya!" after me.

It didn't take me long before I was able to get myself a job. And of course I want too be a magic swordsman. I just followed my instincts until I got to the magic swordsman's sign. I walk inside and close the door behind me. An old man with scars across his face greeted me as I walk to the desk. The old man leans across the desk to look at me, his red eyes studying me from top to bottom. "So young man. You want to be a magic swordsman, ey?" The old man asks narrowing his gaze in my eyes. "Yes" I answered.

The man leans back in his chair "Well you have to complete a special quest if you want to impress me enough to make me give you that class. The quest is pretty simple; just bring me one of the purple phoenix feathers. This monster is a very high level monster, so don't let your guard down for a second." I nodded and start to walk away from the old man just as he said. "I am serious boy, if you let that monster catch you in your current level, you will be dead meat by the time you get to his nest. This is not some simple quest for newbie's in level 10, but for players in higher level. I suggest that you level up a bit more before going after the phoenix." I stop at the door, glance at the old man and make an evil grin. "You are underestimating me; I am not some normal player." I walk out of the building, leaving a worried old man behind.

I looked for the phoenix in all sorts of different high level places, but didn't find it anywhere. I walked to a forest and jumped up on a tree branch, leaning against the trunk. While I rest in the tree, thinking of were that phoenix can be, I suddenly see it, with a little demon boy with cat ears in its grip fly over me. "AN!" I look towards the voice. A male celestial, with small black wings and a cat in the size of a bulldog sitting on his shoulder, is running after the phoenix. What the… Who is that guy? I jump down from the tree and look on the little boy, who tries to get lose from the phoenix grip. Well, it seems like the celestial is trying too save that boy. The phoenix will surely kill him at its nest, so he will just return too rebirth point and loose a level. I start too run after them, this could be interesting.

I reach the mountains, still chasing after the male celestial. He stops at the bottom of a mountain by some trees and leaves my sight, I went to the same place just a few seconds after him but he has suddenly disappeared. I look around, not seeing him anywhere. Suddenly I feel a dagger pressed on my neck, I tried to grab my sword, but the stranger grabbed my wrists before I reached it, pulling my hands away from my back and above my head. Damn that guy, he is fast. He whisper in my ear with a dangerous tone, like he wants too scare me. "Why are you following me?" I grinned, turning my face a bit, so that I can look into the celestial's eyes. I am getting impatient too kill something so I tell him in a calm, yet cold tone. "I saw that purple phoenix before, carrying that boy of yours. Don't worry I will not hurt your little treasure; I just want some excitement with a high level monster. So if you want him too be alive, I suggest that you let me go. You want that trash too live, don't you?"

The celestial seems too be burning with anger at my last comment. He gave me an evil grin. "Oooh~? Do you know who you are messing with boy? I'm the best assassin in the real world. I could easily track you down and torture you for the rest of your miserable life! I used to be the head of the torture department in my organisation, did you know that? Ever heard of the Bloody Tears?" I winced at the name. Bloody Tears? No way, is this guy from the top of the top organisation Bloody Tears? So that's why he is so fast.

I start too chuckle, and then suddenly burst out laughing. "You mean that organisation that was destroyed by a no-name, street gang hiring organisation? Hahahaha! How sad. Did you really think I would get scared at that name? That's hilarious!" My eyes gets filled with tears from laughing too much, but I calmed down too look on the celestial. He is smiling. He turns too the big cat on his shoulder. "Daiyu. Go and protect him." He says, and the cat jumps down and races up the mountain as fast as it could. The big cat disappeared around a boulder a few seconds later. The assassin guy finally let go of me. I began to rub my arms and fingers, making the blood flow normally again. The assassin walks past me and says. "Do not follow if you want too live." I snorted, amused by his threat. Like that is going too stop me from killing the phoenix. Even if that old man warned me, I will defeat the phoenix head on.

I follow the other assassin up the mountain, hiding my presence this time. He is fast, a little faster than me but I can still keep up. The celestial reaches the phoenix nest, at the highest top of the mountain. The phoenix is furious when he reaches out for the boy. I hide myself behind a boulder, drawing my sword and wait for the right moment to attack. The little boy is shaking in fear behind the big phoenix. The big cat is lying by the nest with a big wound on its back, growling at the phoenix and tries over and over again to stand up.

The celestial stops and thinks for a minute. He sighed and flipped the dagger in his hands. Just as the phoenix was about to grab the little boy, the celestial quickly throws the dagger into the phoenix eye. The phoenix screams and the assassin runs into the nest. He will surely be dead meat. I start too run towards him, without me knowing it. But why do i want to save him? The celestial clutched the little demon boy in his arms. The phoenix recovered fast and aims his claws at him. But the idiot won't be able to get away in time. I am just a few inches away, but so are the phoenix claws. Just in the nick of time, I block the phoenix attack with my heavy sword.

The celestial took the advantage of the situation and darts under the phoenix. He grabbed his dagger, which had fallen to the ground behind the phoenix; He emerged the dagger to the edge of the nest and sat the demon outside. It is getting quite tough too hold down the phoenix much longer. What the… The celestial is picking up the boy again? Decide already, bastard! My arms begins to shake, damn this monster is strong.

I can not hold back any longer, the phoenix pushes me away making me hit the ground hard. The celestial has left the demon boy and came darting under the phoenix and at the same time cutting its underside. The phoenix screams and launches into the air. My arm is bleeding from the cut that the phoenix gave me when it pushed me back. I sit up and wince from the pain, taking a healing potion to heal, as the celestial ran over to me. "Why did you save me?" He asks. I gave him a grin and stand up, taking help from my sword. I look up at the purple phoenix where it flies I circles above the nest. "Well, that bastard was about to kill you so I thought I would help. And what's with that tone to the one who just saved you? That isn't a very thankful thing to say."

The celestial just stares at me suspiciously. I snorted and transformed my heavy blade to the twin blade. The celestial stares at my weapon with a plane face. How sad, I wanted him to be at leas a little bit surprised. The phoenix is rushing back at us. I grinned and hold up my swords, the chains clinging against each other. The celestial jumps away from the phoenix, but I stand still. "Hey!" he shouts to me. I jump up into the air and throw one of my swords on the phoenix neck, still upside down in the air, I twist my body to land comfortably on the phoenix neck.. I catch the sword on the second spin around the neck. I tugged both of my swords, making the chain tighter. All that happening while the bird passes by the celestial.

But instead of flying up into the air, as I thought, the phoenix crashed into the side of its own nest. The phoenix was knocked out, slowly falling out of the nest and down the mountain. I was shocked by the impact, fumbling with the swords to get them loose. The phoenix falls over the edge, with me still on its neck. I will not be able to remove the chains before the phoenix will crash to the ground. Even I know that, but I still have to try. Suddenly, two strong hands lift me up into the air and make me drop the grip of my swords. I look up to see who it was, and of course it's the celestial. His black wings have grown. The wings has a darkness so deep that they can pull you in forever , and silver chains wrapped around his wings with large silver crosses splattered with red at the joints were the wings would fold. 'Pfft' show-off.

The celestial and I flew up to the nest again, startling the little demon boy. When he put me down, I stare at him in anger. "What the hell! The weapons are still around the phoenix neck! How am I supposed to fight now?" The celestial chuckled and pulls out his dagger, he throws it at me. I catch it in the air, and stare incredulously at the dagger and then at the celestial. That guy is messing with me. "…You expect me to use this?" I ask him, the celestial smiles at me patronisingly. I only stare at his strange smile on his face. The celestial says, humiliating me. "Of course. Unless you aren't good enough to use it...? Or do you not know how to at all?" Yea, he is totally messing with me. An angry vein popped up on my forehead as I snapped back. "Of course I can!" He still has that stupid smile on his face, man that makes me angry when he thinks he is so much better than me. Wind start to rush past us, the celestial says in a more amused tone. "Then I guess you can handle getting your weapons on your own with only a dagger."

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><p>Like it? ^^ Please review of what you think about Sabre and Bolin meeting each other, I would love to know! ^^<p> 


	7. Blood rain

Alright, here is the next chapter. Sabre will go crazy! ^^

Enjoy!^^

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><p>That guy made fun of me before, but no more. Now is my time to shine. And i will kill the Phoenix with my own hands. The phoenix hovers in the air in front of me and the celestial. The phoenix opens its mouth and something is glowing inside its throat. It will cast a flame thrower soon. I flip the dagger in my hand, making myself prepared. I will be able to blow the flames away with my sonic slash and throw it back to the phoenix. But since my mana is so low now in level 10, I will only be able to cast it one time. I look over to the celestial; he is tensed, prepared to jump away from the flames that will soon appear.<p>

The phoenix turns his head to the kid, who is aiming his gun at the phoenix, and bursts out his purple flames. Shit! That kid will be burned to crisp! Me and the celestial rushes forward, but no one of us will make it in time. The kid drops his gun and trips backwards as the flames come closer. The celestial is panicking; I can sense it from his aura. I feel like I have to save that kid, so I froze time. The phoenix wings stops to flap, the Celestial stops to run in mid air, the kid sits on the ground and stares at the purple big flames that now have stopped. I stop right next to the kid; he seems to shake in fear, even though the time stands still. But why do I want to save this kid so badly? And the celestial too! I just met these two a few minutes ago, but I still feel like I have to save them no matter what. I sight, the sound echoes when I stop the time. Well, I can't let them know that I can stop time so I have to make it look like I used my quick dodge to get to him fast. Or should i even save him? Hm... I save him, it will make the celestial look bad...

I walk a few feet away from the kid, enough distance to be able to get him away from the flames in time. The celestial is still far away from him, so I will be the one to save him. That kid is lucky that I am able to stop the time in the game too. I move away my jacket from my legs and start to run. As soon as I ran I made time go back to normal. The celestial start to run again, the phoenix wings flaps and the flames moves towards the kid. I grabbed the kids arm and threw him out of the way. I lifted the dagger and swing it towards the fire mumbling "sonic slash" The fire is being pushed away from the high air pressure. The fire flies back towards the phoenix, even bigger than before. But the phoenix dodged it with its back feathers gaining a few burn marks.

I swore "Fuck, it should have hit that damn bird!" The phoenix screams in pain and land on the mountain a little bit below, extinguishing the fire. The celestial runs to the demon kid and looks at him, seeing if he got hurt. The celestial smiled a little in relief. I glare at them.

The celestial stands up and walks towards me, with the little demon boy after him clenching in his shirt nervously. The celestial stares down at me with no trace of emotion. I stare back at him with the same expression, using my face mask. "I don't want to say this, but I give thanks when it's due. Thank you for saving Keir." The celestial says in a forgivable tone. I just snorted and waved his thanks away and start to walk to the end of the nest while saying, still with the face mask on. "No prob, I don't know why I care about you two so much. I don't usually do these type of things to strangers." I bent over the edge of the nest and saw the bleeding cat. It moans in pain as I pick it up. I still have a little bit of the healing potion left, so I gave it to the cat and the wound heals up. "Daiyu!" The kid screamed, and ran towards me to take care of his cat. The kid look up at me, with sparkling green eyes and says in a relieved tone "Thank you mister elf you save Bolin, me and now Daiyu. Thank you very much."

I stare at the little demon kid. Why the hell do I want to save them, when I don't even know who they are? I don't get it! I clench my teeth in irritation, and grab the dagger harder in my hand. The anger within me is boiling. The kid steps away from me so I guess the anger shows in my eyes as well. I guess i can not hold up my face mask any longer. I look down on the phoenix who now is trying to cool down his feathers. Because of that stupid bird, I have saved strangers. The phoenix looks up at me and screams in fury, I only gave it an evil grin back. "Hey you stupid bird! Why don't you get up here? I want to kill you once and for all!" I screamed down with a devilish voice, longing for blood.

The little boy gasped at the change in my tone and the big cat hisses towards me. I ignore their reactions. But I notice that the celestial jumps away with them, he probably senced my blood lust. The phoenix screams again and flies up in the air, and shortly after it lands into the nest next to me. My grin grows wider, holding up the dagger in front of me. My two swords dangle on the sides of the phoenix neck when it moves. My focus is on the phoenix as I bubble with rage towards it and myself. My grin is evil and my eyes longs for blood as I say to the phoenix with a deep dangerous voice. "I can't wait to see your blood!"

The phoenix screams again and lifts its big claws towards me. I dodge it with my quick dodge, and run toward the phoenix breast. But it slapped me away with its wing; witch makes me slide on the ground next to the celestial. I grin even more. (if it's possible) "That's more like it." I hiss with excitement. I look over to the celestial and the demon kid, the kid looks shocked and confused while the celestial stares at me in suspicion. I give back the suspicious look to the celestial, but changed it to a glare with a grin. "What's wrong? You are too shocked to say anything?" I say to the celestial with a humiliating voice. The celestial just stares back, I figured that he would not show any emotions since he is an assassin. I show emotions, even though i too am an assassin. My assassin training in Xian Hong is mild compared to the bloody rain.I stand up and run towards the phoenix again.

The phoenix tries to slap me with its wing again, but this time I grabbed the feathers and jumps up on its back. The phoenix notices me and turns around, i am now holding in the chains around its neck. I pull in the chains hard as the phoenix screams in pain. I smile softly at the sound and lean a little bit backwards. It sounds so beautiful... I pull the chains harder and the phoenix falls to the ground, but still alive. I imagine spikes on the chain as I say with a cold voice, glaring right into the painfull eyes of the phoenix "Good bye, it was nice playing with you!" The spikes materialised, killing the phoenix in an instant. The wet sound of flesh being ripped apart, the sharp cracking of bones and the blood cascade to the ground, like rain drenching my clothes in blood, made a splendid killing scene. I just smiled in pure happiness, man that felt good.

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><p>Please review! I would like to see what you think about my story and my character! ^^<p> 


	8. A magic swordsman

Hi everyone! It's me again! ^^

I am so thankful for AnimeVamp1997 and chicaalterego for helping me with spelling and grammar. Thank you very much!

I am sorry that I haven't updated for a while, but I have been sick and I and AnimeVamp delayed the pm a little… But your wait will be worth while (I hope) because here is the next chapter! ^^

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><p>The blood rain stopped soon after it began. My clothes and hair are drenched in blood. My long black jacket have changed colour to red with a few black spots here and there, the same goes for my black pants. My white hair is now white only on the tips of the red bloody spikes. My hair might be wet but the spikes still point upwards and to the sides. My twin blade weapons' chain is red with blood and the spikes that killed the phoenix are slowly disappearing.<p>

I transform my sword to the katana and shake of the blood with the happy grin still on my face. The phoenix disappears in a pillar of light, leaving a few feathers and an egg behind. A booming voice fills the air and says "System notice: Sabre learned new skill: dagger chain. Sabre killed boss: purple phoenix. Loot from purple phoenix: egg and 110 gold coins. Sabre level up. Shape shifting sword level up. Shape shifting sword gaining new transformation: Hammer, Strangle level up, Quick step level up, Friendship with Bolin +1, Friendship with Kier +2, Friendship with Daiyu +1."

The system notice rambled on as I took up the small bag with coins and the feathers; the ones that I succeeded to rip off, into my pouch that is strapped around my hip. I look at the egg that lies on the ground in front of my feet. It is orange with big purple flames patterns on the shell; it is the size of a basket ball. I pick it up and look over to the celestial and the demon kid. Or Bolin and Kier to be exact. The little kid is terrified in the celestials' arms. My grin disappears, being replaced by a cold glare towards him. I really hate being nice to people, but it seems that Bolin isn't afraid of my real personality that I showed them when I killed the phoenix. I don't know who that is Bolin, but I guess it the celestial. i am really not the person to pay attention to names.

The kid starts to shake and the celestial tries to smother the little demon by muttering in his ears as I walk over to them with the egg under my arm. The celestial seems to be very protective towards the little brat. He looks up towards me. My gaze flicks between the kid and him as I put on a small smile and hold my katana tighter. The celestial thought it is a gesture of deciding to kill his little treasure, so he stands up. Being relaxed he stands in fighting position, still holding the shaking brat. The celestial seems kind of surprised that I pass by them and stops right behind them. I can feel his gaze in my back and I speak in a cold tone, but not threatening. "You and that kid are very... Interesting. You are an assassin, but even so you show emotions towards the kid. That is something I am very interested in since I can't feel anything else than blood lust and anger right now. My name is Sabre, and I will see you again... Bolin and Kier."

After my little speech I continue to walk over to the edge of the nest. I transform my sword to the heavy blade and put it on my back. I jump over the edge and slide down the mountain. I hate being interested in someone; I can't bring myself to let them die when I am around. I clench my teeth so hard that I can taste blood in my mouth. Next time I see them, I will not be as nice I was just now...

As I came into town, everybody looks at me. It isn't normal with someone drenched in blood from top to toe, so I can understand them. I am still burning with anger to let my feelings control my actions; I hate saving people, especially a stupid show-off and a brat. I mean he is an assassin, a co-worker. But just because he cares about a little kid, I have to save them all from tough situations? I hate being interested in someone or something, but I just can't remove the feeling that that celestial is special in some kind of way… I put on my face mask a long time ago to not letting my anger show in my eyes. I have now bored eyes instead as I look around at the people staring at me. All the girls blushes furiously towards me with pink hearts as eyes, some even drooled. Though all the guys watches me with anger and jealousy. As if I am stealing all the girls in the town by just passing by. Sure I am a bishie and being drenched seems to be cool and sexy for these girls, but seriously, I will only kill the girls if they annoy me to much.

I walked into the magic swordsman store, still with my face mask on. But as soon as I close the door and leave all the eyes of public, I am literally burning in anger. You can see the face mask of a bored guy drop to the ground and instead see a demon with white eyes and a terrifying evil grimace. Yea, now you can see how much I hate being controlled by weak emotions like caring for people. I am (or was) Garel, the assassin of time, the one that is (was) the most talented assassin in Xian Hong. I was trained to be a killing machine, a machine only to be used by the elders, a machine to only know three emotions. Hatred, anger and the most important one: blood lust. I succeeded to gain the blood lust fast, since it is fun to kill people, and I got the hatred and anger after some of my companions started to pick fights with me over and over. I have only felt happiness towards my parents, Gin and Gun-Gun, but to feel the emotion of caring towards an assassin pissed the hell out of me.

I was so full of anger that I didn't notice the old man stare at me with shock, confusion, and admiration in his eyes. He scratches the back of his head to think what to do as I stand there facing towards the door, you can see some smoke on the door from some burn marks I created with my fire of anger. The old man choughs and grabs my attention immediately. I still have the murderous glare and now direct it to the old man; he whimpers a bit but quickly gains a calm face. He choughs again and says to me while his eyes are closed and leans back into his chair "I didn't think you would be able to kill the phoenix, seeing how your clothes are drenched in blood, and much less that you would be this mad after such a remarkable thing to happen. You are in level ten, and yet you have killed a level 30 monster I must say that you are one remarkable young man."

I just stare at him, slowly cooling down for the thought of me killing a level 30 boss by myself. Then I remember that I didn't do it by myself, because the celestial was there to help me. Or I helped him save his little brat. That was enough to set me on fire again. The old man looked concerned about me and rises from his chair to walk over to me. The biggest mistake he did was to put a hand on my shoulder and say "There, there young man. Calm down will you. Nothing bad could have happened when you defeated the purple phoenix by your self right? You even got yourself an egg, you should be proud."

I grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and pulled him up from the ground and scowled at him "Nothing bad happened? By myself? You got to be kidding me. There was a kid kidnapped by the phoenix and I fucking helped his stupid brother to save him. Do you know how I feel because of that? I feel like a failure, a worthless failure to be concerned about a freaking brat and an asshole. I sure did the final strike by strangling it, but that bastard helped be kill it because he made me angry. And when I am angry, no one should mess with me!" I put the shaking old man down and pull out one of three feathers from my pouch and gave it to him. He took it, still looking at me in fear as I said coldly to him, trying to keep enough cool from killing the old man "Go on and change my job before you say anything else to piss me off." The old man nods and a booming voice filled the air again "System notice: Job change successful Learnt 2 new skills: Lightning pierce and lightning boost."

I grin at him, still fighting the urge to kill him as I say "Good old man." The old man snaps back to reality when I grinned at him, he quickly walk over to one of his drawers and pulls out a box. He walks over to me, more nervous this time, but still says in a calm voice. "Here, this is a gift to you from an old man. I know you already have a deadly weapon since you killed the phoenix, but I feel like I have to give you something for your efforts." I stare down at the box, took it away from his hands and open it. It is a pair of black gloves, I can clearly see that this is growing type armour. The right glove has small holes on the knuckles and a white dragon with red eyes is flying beneath the holes and shoots out red flames beneath it with some electric spark around the dragons' skin. The left glove has a much more casual style than the right; it has some red flames on it, beginning from the wrist and a few holes on the knuckles, just like the right glove.

A shadow of a smirk reaches my face as I look at them, they mach my personality. I put them on and some kind of needle sticks into my palms as the system notice says again. "system notice: Agility: +15 Strength: +15 Mana: +20 Hp: +20, 5% chance for instant kill, 5 times more exp gain." Wow these gloves are pretty good. I look at my palms, but nothing seems to be wrong. I look over to the old man with a questionable face, but he just smiles at me. I turn my attention towards my new gloves again and clench my fists; I hear metal against metal and I turn my hands to see that spikes came out from the holes on my knuckles. I grin and open my hands again, they disappear. I did that a few times, thinking how much I could kill with my bare hands now. I look over to the old scared man that now is on his way back to his chair in the corner; my anger is now for the moment gone as I give his back a smirk. "Thanks." Is all I said as I walked out from the door on my way to the pet store to hatch my egg. I heard a mumble form the old man before I closed the door behind me "Young people can be scary some times, but if you give them the right thing they are not so bad." I smirk again before I put on my bored face mask.

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><p>Review! I love reviews and I won't update again before any one else than AnimeVamp1997 and chicaalterego review my story. I really want more reviews!<p>

Oh and in the next chapter I will tell some Heng Shi secrets!

Heng Shi: What kind of secrets? –Glare-

Well… You will see. And how can you talk to me? Don't tell me that you will become alive and kill me. And why the hell is this so familiar?

Heng Shi: Maybe because you saw this idea about talking to the characters in the story, and thought it was fun. So you wanted to try it out. –Snorts- But seriously, this is the most stupid thing you will ever do. Because now I can torture you not to tell my own secrets. –Grins evilly-

Oh no, no no no no no, you don't. I am the one in control here, and I decide what is going to happen to you. And if I say I will tell your secrets, I WILL tell your secrets got it.

Heng Shi: -Death glare- No you won't

Ehm... i would like to know what you think about me talking to my character, should i continue it or not?

Heng Shi: Please tell her to stop... I hate this...

Anyway see you after the others review! ^^


	9. The new pet

Hi everyone! ^^ I decided to give up on getting another person to review; I had so many ideas about my story so I couldn't wait any longer! I really love to read other peoples reviews, it is fun to see what you think about my story. If you hate or love it (or both) you really should review to make the author happy!

Heng Shi: -Twitch- Why did you have to continue with this story. I was having some peace this past month.

Hey! –Pouting- I like this story, and so do you. And if I would not have continued, you would not exist any more.

Heng Shi: -Twitch twitch- How the hell do I like this story? You let me save an asshole and a brat, and also let myself to show happiness towards a stupid woman like Gun-Gun. That is something I am not happy about.

No you are happy with my story! ^^ I know you like Gun-Gun since she gave you second life, and because she gave you an awesome room and because she is that kind of person that you like the moment you see her. And you know that it is interesting for you to care about someone, even though it is a guy.

Heng Shi: -Twitch twitch twitch- Don't you dare make save those bastards again. And don't you dare tell my secrets!

Heng Shi, my friend. Consider it already done, I have already told some of your secrets in the story. ^^

Heng Shi: -Cold evil glare- Alright little girl, time for torture! –Clenches his fists with his awesome game gloves so that spikes comes out from the knuckle holes-

Eek! How the hell can you have your game gloves in reality, it's not fair!

Heng Shi: -Grin- I don't know but I like it.

Oh, and AnimeVamp1997 asked if the spikes are like wolverines claws, they are not. –holds Heg Shis' clenched fist towards the screen and point at the spikes- As you can see, there are four holes one on each knuckle. And they are about 0,79 in tall, so they are nothing like his claws.

Heg Shi: -throws a punch at me as he growls- Stop touching me.

-Gets hit on my shoulder and slams into the wall- Ouch, that hurt! Alright, this is the first time I have to write a disclaimer! **I do not own Prince, Lolidragon or Meatbun; I only own Sabre and Garel**. Time to start the story, enjoy! ^^

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><p>On my way to the pet store I still try to calm down my anger. I try to think about all the good sides out of this event with the celestial and the demon brat. 1: I got to kill a high level monster. 2: I leveled up and got a new skill. 3: I am a magic swordsman. 4: I got a pet (that is yet to hatch) 5: I got a pair of gloves 6: I care about… How the hell can number 6 be good?<p>

I growl as the memories comes flooding back to me, I hate it. I grip my egg, which I hold under my right arm, tighter. This is like a never ending pit of hatred that will take a long time to crawl out from, but I can't let it show on my face. I search in my mind, trying to find something to calm myself down. If I think of elder Gim, I think back on how he used me and deceived me. If I think back to the assassin academy, I think back on when I became the elders apprentice which leads to Gim again. He seems to haunt me; I thought I erased him from my mind when I escaped 3 days ago.

I try to think of a happy memory, which is not related to the elders or Gim. I learned to ignore all the stares from all the players a while ago; I am still drenched in blood after all. I close my eyes; it is still a long way to the pet store, and dig deeper into my memory. I think back to my parents, those are happy memories. My father Ren and my mother Jilie, the only persons that I truly loved. They have been dead a long time but my memories of them are like it happened yesterday. When my father took me for the first time to his research lab, when my mother thought me to write and speak different languages, when we went camping up in the mountains for a week. At that time, I was naïve and let my emotions flow like water. Now I am colder on the inside, but can easily put on a fake emotion for the people around me. A smile creeps on my face as I remember my mother playing her ocarina.

The melody flows within my mind and drives away the anger from my being for the moment. It is the song that my mother made herself for my fathers' birthday, I was only 5 years old at that time, but I can still hear the melody clear. I have learned to play this song myself; I found my mothers notes in her bedroom. At first it was hard, but after a while I got the hang of it. I open my eyes again, still playing the melody in my mind to keep my calm, and walked into the pet store.

As I open the door I hear a lady say "Will the owner of the pet please place a drop of blood on it, thus taking ownership." I look over to the counter. A white haired boy in newbie clothing and a girl with her brown hair in a "half ponytail" (guess who they are) are standing at the counter with their back towards me. They look down at something, probably their new pet. "No matter how I look at it, it looks like… a bun…" Says the brown haired girl. A bun? What kind of pet is that? The boy points at the pet and say "No, if you look carefully, its shape and size both speak of a hidden goodness… Its skin is smooth and soft, and it's emitting an aroma that makes one drool." The boy looks over to the girl. "I don't think it's just a bun, but a… Meat bun!"

By the time he finishes his sentence I am next to them and look at the weird pet. It is a meat bun. The girl smacks her arm against the boys' throat and screams. "You complete moron!" I snort in amusement and get the attention of the girl, since the boy is lying half dead on the ground. She stares at me with a deep blush as I point to the bun and say. "You must be joking, is that thing really a pet? Are you sure it hatched from an egg?" The girl could only nod slowly as she keeps staring at me. The boy gets up and looks towards me and start to blush as well. I raise an eyebrow towards him. Is that guy gay or what?

I decide to let it go and look over to the NPC and place my egg on the counter, she blushes too. "Hatch this" I commanded simply. The brown haired girl turned her gaze towards the egg with her eyes widened. "How did you get your hand on that?" She asks me with awe as she strokes a finger on the purple flamed shell. I just shrugged. "Got it from a monster, how else." The girl looks over to me, again at the egg and then at me. I seriously want to give the girl a deep cut right now, but I will only still my blood lust on the monsters, that is something I decided when I started the game. At least, in the beginning. And right now i don't feel like killing this woman.

I look over to the NPC again and say in a colder tone. "Hatch my egg, or I will become angry again. And you don't want to see me angry." The NPC wince at my cold tone nods and takes the egg to the back of the "store". "How did you manage to get that egg? It is only 0,001% chance to get it from a boss, and even if you killed a high level boss it would still be 0.009% chance to get it." The girl says to me in a serious tone. I look over to gaze into her eyes, determent to get an answer from me.

This girl knows about this egg and how rare it is, I didn't even know it was rare up until now. That must mean she is a hidden GM that I read about in the manual. I let an evil smirk show upon my lips as I say to her in an evil tone. "Well, I killed the purple phoenix a few minutes ago; the egg came from that monster. But as for the rareness, I really don't know. Maybe it was my helmet that gave me this egg, or maybe it was just destiny." I showed her my glove with the white dragon on. The girl gasped in realisation while the boy, that has watched us during our conversation, looks between me and the girl in confusion.

The NPC comes back with a baby dragon in her hands. The dragon glares daggers at the NPC as she step away a bit from the dragon from fright. The dragon has pure white skin with green "spikes" going down along its back, becoming smaller and smaller further down and stops by the sharp tail. It has sharp teeth and claws and glares now at me with its pure red eyes. Its chest has a light yellow color and it has two green horns on the top of its head that is shaped like a S. Its two green wings is folded behind its back, it breathes out some red flames out of its nose and turns to look at the other two people in the store. It glares later at the meat bun that stands next to it, the meat but gets tears in its eyes. I grin evilly as I study my new dragon.

The other white haired boy is the firs one to talk. "Wow, that dragon look so cool." Immediately the dragon turns to the boy to glare at him instead. The NPC speaks now with a little more nervous voice. "W-will the owner of the pet please place a drop of b-blood on it, thus taking ownership." I snorted "You don't have to tell me that." I clenched my right hand, making the spikes come out from the gloves. I was granted by 3 surprising gazes upon me. I ignored them and press a finger upon one of the spikes; it didn't take long until it started to bleed. I reached out my bloody finger towards the dragon, it stares at me. I gave it a grin in return. "You will be named Garel, is that ok?" Even though I don't like animals that much, a dragon is something else. I want the dragon itself to decide to be my pet; they are smart creatures after all. And i think he too realises that we make a good team.

The dragon looks over to my finger and then back to me, and then it strokes its head against my bloody finger. I stroke him back before turning around saying. "Let's go then, Garel. I don't want to have blood on myself any longer." I begin to walk away as I hear the flapping of wings, soon after I feel a heavy weight on my shoulder. "Wait." The girls' voice stops me by the door and I turn around my head to glanze at her and her companion, they have both the look of admiration and confusion in their eyes. I turn towards them fully and Garel shoots out some more red flames from his nose in irritation, I feel the same way as my dragon.

"What now?" I ask bluntly. She bits her lip nervously before speaking. "The way that dragon treats you, how did you manage to gain so much trust in just a few seconds? It is supposed to be hard to control since it is so reckless and aggressive." I give her a devilish grin and pet my dragon as confirmation on my words. "We are alike, that's why." The girl shuddered in fear; Garel is probably making the same expression as I am doing right now. Even though it is a baby dragon, it seems like it can be scary judging by the feared looks on him.

The boy speaks to me politely, but with a hint of fear as well. "My name is prince, and this is Lolidragon. What's your name?" I turn towards the door again and give them a second glance as I hissed. "Sabre" before I walk out from the store with Garel still on my shoulder. I and Garel looked at each other with amusement in our eyes, we really are alike. We really enjoyed scaring those two (or four if you count in meat bun and the NPC) this is going to be a lot more exciting from here on out. I walk into an ally and Garel jumps off my shoulder when I log off. I have to find a nice university before Christmas begins.

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><p>Sooo, what do you think? Like it? Hate it? Either way, review!<p>

Heng Shi: I actually like this chapter; I really have a great dragon. –Grin-

Yay! I knew you like this story! And you said you didn't want me to continue, but now you have changed your mind right? ^^

Heng Shi: -Twitch- You are annoying…

Oh yea I am~! And I can be more annoying if you want me to! ^^

Heng Shi: No

Anyway about Heng Shis' secrets, I decided to tell them a little bit further into the story. This chapter is needed and I had to write it during the time he plays for real for the first day since Prince gets meatbun during her first day. I have big plans for Prince and odd squad later! ^^

Heng shi: Yea, only Prince started to play in summer, it is now winter...

But... you still took a long time with the phoenix... So it could match up with the original story...

Heng Shi: It only took me one day. Change the story.

No! I can't do that! :O

Heng Shi: Yea, yea. Just promise me to let me kill something in the next chapter. –Blood lust grin-

Wow~ sure, sure just hold on for a while longer before you kill someone or something. I need ideas about what he will do during Christmas. Please help me… I don't know what to write… T_T Anyway, see you sometime. But I have no idea when! ^^


	10. Christmas

Hallo everyone! –Does happy dance- Missed me? ^^

Heng Shi: -snort- Hardly… And why are you so happy…

Isn't it obvious? Another person reviewed my story! And she said it has a good plot! Thank you Roith, I am so happy! ^^ -spins around on the place and does peace sign-

Heng Shi: … You are weird you know…

Yup! And I like being weird! ^^ I am like this most of the time in real life too. I wanted to have a good first impression when I first posted this story, so that is why I didn't begin to talk to you or write weird things in the beginning. ^^

Heng Shi: Yea right… You came up with this idea to talk with the character from 'Quiet on the golf course' when Itachi talked to the readers… You didn't even plan to do this, not until…

-Cuts Heng Shi off by embracing him in a death hug- Hahahahaha! Heng Shi, you are so funny. Now, why would I not have planned this? Hahahahaha…

Heng Shi: -sweat drop-

O_O –Jumps away and points at Heng Shi- HE SWEAT DROPPED! Oh my god, that is so out of character!

Heng Shi: -anime fall-

-Pokes at Heng Shi who now lies on the ground- That is totally out of character to! What happened to you Heng Shi?

Heng Shi: -Growl- Then why the hell are you making me do it since it is so out of my character? Bitch! –Glares at me with killing intent-

-Backs away… very far away- I wanted to try it once…

Heng shi: -Stands up and walks towards me, his killing intent rising-

-Whimpers- Le-let's continue the s-story… E-enjoy my l-longest chapter e-everyone! ^^"

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><p>Right now I am sitting in my couch, lifting my 20 kg dumbbells while watching TV. It is just some shit film about some kid learning karate from an old man. He does stupid house duties for that old man. Waxing cars, paints fences, grinds the floor… That is not training for karate… I mean seriously, how would doing house duties in some kind of way effect your reflexes in combat? That is just some stupid shit work. You can also clearly see the way that they are fighting is fake. I have much more talent in the sport than that old man. You have to be someone with no experience at all in karate not to notice that they don't even hit each other... I have enveloped a much more brutal kind of style for fighting; no one will be able to perform it accept from me. The "doctors" at Xian Hong said that I should not use my style of fighting, since it puts to much pressure my body. It is my body and I decide if I will use it or not. Besides, I work out on a regular basis.<p>

It is one day before Christmas. The streets are crowded with people shopping Christmas gifts, the Christmas music can clearly be heard from the radio threw the walls and all the people is having fun. They might think that Christmas is a blessing, well I do not. I have never liked Christmas after my father died. I can remember it like it was yesterday… Xian Hong celebrating Christmas together, my father is sick but decides to go to the party anyway, me helping him inside the big hall, when he gave me my Christmas present and how he died soon after his last Christmas. I never believed in Santa Claus or how he rode all around the world giving presents to all the nice children in one night. We assassins have ended lives, but even so we get presents addressed from Santa Claus as kids. We are doing the greatest sins in life and even so Santa Claus gives us presents? That is just stupid.

I put down my dumbbells on the floor and turn off the TV. The good guys always win in movies, so why bother to watch. I begin to do 100 push ups, then 50 push ups on each hand. When I was done with my exercise on my chest, I do the plank exercise for about 5 minutes and after that do 50 squats. Then, I lie down on my back to do 400 sit-ups. This is just regular body training for me; I do it every day to build up my body so I am able to fight longer. Not everyone can do all these pushups and sit-ups and stuff, but I am not a part of 'everyone'. I am (was, I still haven't accepted it yet) an assassin, and assassins must have stamina, speed and strength to be able to survive. That is a basic fact.

When I have done 267 sit-ups the doorbell rings. I let out a sight and stand up. How annoying. My naked upper body is damp with sweat, I didn't bother to put on a tank top today, but I don't smell at all. (Hurray for my dad) I simply rub my wet hair a little with a towel and walk over to the door to answer. I don't have a look hole through my door, so I just opened it. I didn't care to put on my face mask; if someone interrupts my training they will be punished. Everyone stays away from me when I train, not to get a punch in the stomach or a strangle grip from disturbing my good mood. In the door opening stands a group of high school girls, blushing. They blush even more when they see my naked body drenched in sweat with a towel around my neck. All of them are holding cards, probably for a Christmas party.

"What do you want?" I snapp at them. One of the girls steps forward with her head down in embarrassment. She reaches her card towards me and fiddles with her hair with her other hand.

"We-we are h-having a c-Christmas p-p-party in the café r-right next to this building. We-we were w-wondering if y-you would like t-to c-c-come." I narrow my eyes and look at the other girls in the group. They all stare at my bare chest, drooling. I hate when the girls do that.

I snapped the card away from the girls hand and start to read it, which seems to catch their attention up to my face. It says that the Christmas party begins at 18.30 soon after the café closes, and you are supposed to bring a Christmas gift with you for one person that you appreciate. I frowned at the word 'appreciate'. I don't 'appreciate' anybody, but it can be a nice time killer. If they would have waited at least one hour before knocking at my door, I would have just snorted and say 'If I don't want to come, what will happen then?' in a little bored tone. But right now I can't think properly, so I give back the card to the girl.

"Come back within an hour, right now I am too pissed off to think strait." I say to the girls with a cold tone before closing the door. I can hear their happy outbursts as I walk back to the living room to continue my rutine.

After taking a shower and put on some clothes, the doorbell rings again. I know it is those high school girls again. This time I opened the door with my face mask on, I still haven't forgiven them for disturbing my training, but I said that I would calm down. Kind of… Immediately after I opened the door they made some disappointed moans. I only smirk at them, leaning against my door post.

"What? Disappointed?" I say to them in a mocking tone, they blush at my statement. The same girl steps forward and asks me. "Well, will you come to the party?" I pretend to think about it for a moment before answering.

"Well… If I don't come, what will happen then?" The girls winches and looks at each other before screaming in unison. "Well, I will be sad because I want to give my Christmas present to you! Hey, he will have my present first! No he will not! He is mine!" And there goes the fight about who will give their Christmas present to me first. And who that will become my girlfriend… I totally hate this crap, girls only goes for looks not the personality… If they knew my real personality, they would run home screaming.

-Sight- Well, there is no were around this situation, so I might just say something that is not a yes and not a no to them. I bang my fist into the door post to get their attention. (I created a little crack, but no harm done.) Now all the eyes are set on my bored face as I say to them. "Why do you have to fight? It's not like I have known any of you long enough for you to even be able to become my girlfriend." They look down on the floor in embarrassment. "But, about the Christmas party…" I gain their attention once more, and I give them a cool grin. "You have to see for yourself tomorrow." And with that, I close the door. Leaving the high school girls in confusion. I guess they noticed the crack in the door post as they rambled on. I can hear small words like 'Hot, bishie, sexy, look, crack, cool, strong, body…' and so on. Sometimes I hate girls and sometimes they amuse me. I can with just one look easily manipulate them, but they annoy the hell out of me if they just do nothing else than blush and drool.

So, what to do about tomorrow? Should I go? If I go, all the girls will rush over to me and give me their Christmas gifts, and all the guys would want to pick a fight. A fight sounds nice, and I have nothing better to do. I look over to my hand watch, it read 19.23. I stretch my body on my way to the bed room. I have to send all those papers to my new university; I succeeded to get into a university with no grades at all. But when I met the principle for the school a few days ago to show what I knew in my subject, he was satisfied. So I got an e-mail from the principle to fill in my name, address stuff like that. The school is not to far away from my house, it will only take about 15 minutes to run there. I will probably stick out from everyone in my class with my white hair and yellow eyes. And some guys might become jealous and pick a fight with me. I grin evilly at the thought, a fight would be nice.

I send away my fake information to the principle and at the same time signing up for the karate club. Afterwards I walk over to the kitchen to make some dinner. After some home made pizza I start to read some school books before going to bed. Nothing special happened in second life. I killed some monster together with my dragon Garel and I gained some experience. Without second life, I might have gone insane from blood lust. Before I knew it, my glorious night ended and I woke up 8.30 as always. I rub the sleep out from my eyes and walk out in the living room to train. I will also have to go out and shop some party clothes… No, I will go in only a white shirt and black jeans. I hate dressing up.

The time is 18.45 and I am standing outside the café. All the Christmas lights are on the streets lights up the café in front of me. Most of the people are having dinner at home with their families. Everybody inside the building seems to have fun. The 'bad boys' talks to a lot of girls and makes them laugh, there is a d-jay who plays party music loud enough to be heard all over town. I make an evil grin as I walk inside, it will be fun to ruin the 'bad boys' little pleasure to the girls. I still have my vest on as I walk over to an empty table. I sit down and glance around the café. Some tables have been removed to be able to create the dance floor and on the left side of me is a bar where the 'bad boys' sit with their ladies. They look so confident… Soon after I had slid into my seat, the girls begin to notice me. They began to whisper and giggle with each other and glance over to me. I snort in amusement as one of the 'bad boys' notices the stares from the girls. They follow their gazes and glares at me. I only smile back and wave towards them, which made them angry.

The leader from the 'bad boys' stands up and walks towards me with an evil glare. I snort in amusement again as he steps closer to my table. Like he will be able to do anything to me, and just because of the girls. When he stands in front of my table he leans over to me with an angry grimace. "Who the hell do you think you are?" The other 'bad boys' have walked over to their leader. The music has stopped and everyone in the whole party stares now at me and the 'bad boys'. I only gave the leader a half hearted grin as an answer. The girls are bursting out in small "kya" behind the little gang. The leader grabs the color of my shirt as he tries to threaten me. "Listen punk, I will give you one last chance. Get. Out." My grin turns into an evil smile as my eyes hardened at his words. "Ooh~. Is that so" I say in a mocking tone. "Well, sorry pal. But I will not go anywhere. So I suggest you let go of my shirt." I can clearly see that the leader noticed my hidden message in my words and begins to grin. "Ooh~, really?"

I am now on my way home with a hell lot of Christmas gifts. Those 'bad boys' didn't even stand a chance against my skills. They would have died if I was not in public, but afterwards I got a hell lot of presents from all the girls. I said that I would leave my presents in my apartment, but I never said that I would be back. I fumble with my keys and locks up the door. I just drop all the presents in the hall; I don't even want to know what is in them right now. I take off my vest and hang it on the hook on the wall. I take off my shoes and immediately walk over to my room to sleep. I feel very good after my fight with those idiots, so I don't have to play second life tonight. And soon the tournaments will begin, but I don't have to worry about that. What I have to worry about, if I should worry about anything, is my new university. I already got my uniform, but will I get into more fights there. I grin evilly to myself. Yea, school sure will be interesting.

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><p>YAY! What a long chapter, the longest I have ever written! And I am sorry if some parts confuse you, I am so into the university right now. T_T I have so many ideas… But, I will change this chapter in the future, I promise! ^^<p>

Heng Shi: -Glare- You promised me I could kill something this chapter…

But, you did in second life. I just didn't describe it…

Heng Shi: Yea, but describing it is the whole point. How the blade slashes through the flesh, how the life slowly drives away from the creature and how the feeling of blood splashes on your clothes. It is the greatest thing that someone could experience. –Makes a crazy evil face-

-Back away- Ehm… Right… Next chapter will be about Heng Shis' new university. And the chapter after that will be about second life. ^^ See you soon everyone!


	11. The new student

Yay! I got another reviewer! –spin, spin, spin- Thank you sooo much! I am so happy that you guys like my story! ^^

Heng Shi: Hehehehehe… -crazy look in his eyes-

Ehm… Heng Shi? W-what is wrong? You kinda freak me out…

Heng Shi: Well… Gaara the Magical Panda said that I am scary… That makes me in a good mood. –Grins evilly towards readers- Might as well show what I can do in person.

Oh, no you don't! –Smacks Heng Shi hard in the head with a giant hammer- Don't you dare touch my readers! Especially those who review! You evil killer freak!

-Smacks away my awesome hammer and glare at me with crazy killer intent- You just shut up, or I will kill you.

-smacks him over and over in the head with my hammer, harder and harder for each hit- Eek! Why the hell do you have to be so freaking lasting! Just become unconscious already!

-After 2 minutes of constant hammering Heng Shi is finally unconscious-

-Pants heavily- There… ha… I saved… My readers… -Drops onto the floor, looks over to my awesome readers- Oh, hey… Do you have any idea what I should do with… Heng Shi now that he is unconscious? Anything you would like, I can do… but I will only choose one suggestion… And this will be the first and last time… Because he won't fall for it again… If you want him dressed up in a maid suit, I will fix it… If you want him to be tied down in a chair, I can fix it… If you want him to ride on unicorns while singing PONPONPON song, I can fix it… Your words are my command… 'Phew' tiring to swing a big hammer… Enjoy my chapter… ZZzzzZZzzz

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><p>It is 7.00, the first time I am forced to wake up by my digital watch. When the watch rang I simply squashed it under my hand, making the metal pieces and glass pierce through my skin. I groaned in annoyance and sat up in my bed. I have to go into the routine about waking up 7.00 every morning since I am beginning in my new university today. I will meet the principle at 12.40 in his office to write some more papers. Damn paper work… I carefully pluck out all the gears and glass pieces from my hand, after I am done; I begin to use my time energy to step up the healing time. I can see how the wound closes up slowly with a small sizzling sound.<p>

(None of you probably know what time energy is, so I will make Heng Shi explain it to you guys.) You see, every creature has time energy inside their bodies. The time energy is used when a wound is healing or as you grow up, and after some time, the time energy ends and gives no more energy to the heart. It is thanks to the time energy that the heart is able to beat non stop, and when the heart stops you die. The time energy is like a powerful energy source that my father noticed. He created a necklace to be able to control that time energy in the creatures and in the air.

The air also contains time energy since the peoples time energy is being gathered in the air. With my necklace I can gather enough time energy to be able to travel in time, my father has done it too. Also thanks to the necklace, I can suck in time energy from the ones I kill into my necklace and from the necklace into me. That is making me able to control my body and time completely. If I want to, I can simply just stop in one age if I want to and heal my wounds fast as I just did. I can also use my time energy in battle, making my time energy attack the enemy's energy. But that puts a lot of strain on my body and I can chough up blood. One time, I have even fractured a bone.

I always grow tired after using my energy, and being sleepy doesn't help one bit. I groan in annoyance again as I stand up and pick up my new school uniform from my computer desk. It is a pair of black pants lined with gold, a gold shirt with some buttons by the neck with a collar and a black jacket with golden trim, cuffs, and buttons. The school insignia rests above the heart of the jacket. It was a roaring golden lion with two arrows crossing behind it and encompassed in a circle. I have no idea what it means, the principle never told me. I pulled on the clothes and let the three buttons by the neck be unbuttoned so that my necklace will show. I let the collar point upwards, framing in my neck with the golden fabric. The golden colour matches pretty well with my yellow eyes, not bad for a school uniform. I also found some good spots to hide my weapons in. Like always, I have my hidden knife on my right arm, I managed to put on my smaller sword under my jacket and some smaller knives almost everywhere. And I still looked normal. I also used my energy as a magnet for all my weapons so that they would not fall out if I got into a fight.

I gather up my broken watch and dump it in the garbage bag on my way to the kitchen. I still have plenty of time before I have the meeting with the principle, so I take my time to read through the school books. I had private lessons in Xian Hong, so I know a lot about explosive technology already. The English was no problem since my father came from another country, and the Math was very easy too. So I know almost everything already, but reading the school books is a time killer. I glance over to my hand watch, it says 11.35. Might as well get going, even though it takes only 15 minutes to run I can walk instead. I stand up from my sofa and put down all my school books into my backpack. I double check that all my windows are closed and locked; I also fused some energy with the window glasses and the door, making an invisible barrier for intruders. I slid my arms into the straps of my backpack and lock the door behind me.

I must say that my new school is very impressive. It is the size of a castle, and had a little village built around the school that was filled with everything the students needed. The entrance is a large circle lined with old oak trees and in the middle was a huge decorative, intricately made fountain. There are four levels to the fountain. Large statue horses prances on the outermost edges of the fountain. On the second level there are statue lions sitting regally while spouting water from their roaring mouths. On the third level there are griffins with wings outstretched water pouring from their beaks. The fourth level is a bowl, and sitting in the middle is a phoenix with fire rising from its body, posed as if singing to the sky. Its large wings are unfolded and behind it, its beak open and pointing to the sky. Between every statue are archways of stone, varying in height all stopping at the edges of the fourth level before becoming a sphere around the phoenix. The sculptor had made it so it looked like the sphere around the phoenix never stops. Very impressing first impression, it is like the creatures eyes follow you everywhere. I can also see a long standard black limousine in a garage not to far away.

I continue to look at my surroundings as I walk over to the big double door entrance. I grin at the door, being in a school life will affect me for sure. I will have to use my face mask a lot inside these walls. I grab the handle on one of the doors and open it, this will be interesting. As I walk into the school, I am greeted by big a big hall with carmine red wallpaper and soft dark blue carpet covering the floor. It is very fancy in my opinion; Xian Hong never had anything expensive decorating the halls. There are also big glass crowns up it the roof, lighting up the big hall. I continue on my way to the principle office, last time I met the principle was in a café (the café next to my house, that is how the girls 'found' me) so I don't really know where the office is. But I still have 40 minutes left before I have to see him, so I can take my time and explore the school. And besides, time is on my side.

After a while of walking I notice more and more students fill the halls. They all stare at me in awe and as usual the girls giggle with each other when they see me, and if I meet their gaze with mine they blush immediately. –Sight- I hate being a bishie sometimes… I look at my watch, it says 12.20. Not so much time left and I feel that I am not even close to the principals' office. I groan in frustration and scratch the back of my head. Where the hell can it be?

As if someone could read my mind, some girls' walks up to me nervously. One girl has blond straight hair down to her shoulders with green eyes, the second girl has brown hair up tied in two buns on each side of her head and the last girl has red soft hair down to her waist with a small pink bow on the right side of her head. All of them blushing when I glance over to them over my shoulder. I let out a mental sight as I put on a fake smile; they better have a good reason for approaching me.

"Yea? What do you girls want?" I ask them in a calm voice. They blush even more and some girls around us let out a content sight. "W-we are w-wondering i-if we can help y-you with something." The blond girl blurted out nervously. I turn fully towards them and give them a bigger smile (in their point of view sparkling and bright) and nod. "Yea, I am supposed to meet with the principle but I can't find my way to his office." The brown haired girl fainted from my smile, but was caught by the red haired girl. I just laugh in amusement. The blond girl has now spinning eyes as she says. "Y-yea, t-the p-p-principles office i-is just beyond this h-hall t-to the right." I nod and smile my bright smile again. "Thank you" Now it was the blond's time to faint along with the red head. I laugh again, this time more uncomfortable as I turn around towards the principles office.

"Hey, you. Short head." Someone called out to me, but I just ignored it and continue to walk. "Hey! I am talking to you damit!" At this statement I stop to turn around once again. I point dumbfounded at myself. "Who, me?" In the middle of the hall across from me stands a black haired boy in my age with a scar on his chin, looking really pissed off. He wears the usual school uniform but has a band on his right arm saying "captain" on it. "Yea, you. Who else in this room should I call short head, short head?" He throws back at me with a scowl on his face and a bitter tone.

I shrugged at his statement and cross my arms over my chest, really pissed off by him calling me short head (sure, I am a little bit shorter than anyone else but I am not that short) but not letting it show on my face mask. Instead I gave him a mocking smirk. "Well, I don't know. I just thought that no one would be friendly enough with me to give me a nickname on my first day at school." The guy seems to grow angrier, good my plan works. The other guy points at the now unconscious blond on the floor. "You just flirted with my girlfriend, and I will not tolerate that person to walk away without any damages!" I raise my hand defendable. "Hey, I didn't flirt with anyone. I just thanked her for giving me directions. She just passed out for no reason." The girls around us began to giggle and the boys face begins to heat up with anger.

"Do you have any idea who I am? I am the captain for the karate club in this school! I will kick your ass if you insult me any further!" I brought my hand to my chin like I am thinking over something and close my eyes before I say. "Is that a challenge that I hear, or is it just my imagination?" The room fell silent. I open my eyes to look at the captain's confidant grin, I nod towards him. "Guess that I was right." His grin grows wider at my statement. I let some of my anger sipper out from my face mask as I too make a grin, but mine is more mocking. The captain's grin disappears to be replaced by a cold face. "Good, meet me in the dojo after school, we will settle it then and there. What is your name shrimp?" I too changed my expression to a cold glare. "Heng Ru Shi" I answered bluntly before I close my eyes and continue to walk towards the principles office. When my face is out of sight from all the people I skip my face mask. My expression now holds amusement and excitement. My eyes glow with a faint of blood lust and crazyness. I have only been in this school for 35 minutes and I have already made myself an enemy, just you wait 'captain', soon you will wish that you never even met me.

The meeting with the principle went very fast, I just had to write some tests for all the subjects that I will participate in. I passed and I am now waiting for the school to end outside the dojo. I am beaming with excitement, a fist fight in public. I haven't done that in a long time, I have to remember that I will not kill him. Even though I really want to for him calling me shrimp and short head. I feel someone coning this way, so I lean against the wall in a relaxed position. It is that captain, the one I will fight soon. I smile at him and stand straight. "Hey, not afraid to draw out are you?" The captain asks me in a mocking tone. I just shrug and counter back. "My words exactly." The captain becomes red with anger as he stomps pass me and slams the doors open. I walk inside the dojo after him. It is just like a normal big training ground with wooden floor. Nothing to brag about. The captain stomps away to the dressing room to change into karate clothes I suppose. I just begin to meditate in the middle of the field. I have to keep my calm and not kill him, I have to remember to hold back on my punches and I have to remember not to stop time. That is the things I have to remember before even thinking about fighting in public, or else I will go out of control. Even I know that much.

I hear a door open and I open one eye to look what it was. I met the furious eyes of the captain, I just shrug and go back to meditating again, repeating the same words in my head over and over. I hear the captain growl in annoyance as he stomps towards me. He stop right in front of me, his aura is clearly speaks for me that he is humiliated and angry. I smirk and look up into his eyes. "Why are you starring at me like that? Don't want me to feel comfortable, captain?" I say to him in a mocking tone. The captain winches at my words and grows even angrier. "Shut up." He snaps at me. "That smirk on your face won't last long. Soon you will be begging for mercy that you ever laid a hand on my girlfriend. And why haven't you changed from your school uniform, it will become trash later." I give him a cheerful grin. "Oh~? Is that so?" I sing song while crossing my arms over my chest. "Well I think that I will be just fine with my school uniform. And besides, this is my first day, so I haven't thought of getting another pair of clothes."

Just when he was about to answer me, the school bells ring. Immediately after, the people from the school come flooding inside the dojo. All of them chatting excitedly with each other, some girls giggling. I grin as I stand up, brushing off some dirt from my pants. I take a half step forward with my right foot; turn my upper body a little bit to the left, bending my knees slightly, I bring up my right hand in front of my face and the left hand slightly behind my back. I then pull up my happy façade and grins towards the captain as I say in a cheerful voice. "About that I will be begging for mercy, I think it is the other way around." The captain's face reddened as he too stands in his own karate position then runs at me without any second thought. He throws a fist towards my face, but I easily dodge it by tilting my head a little bit to the side. I also take a small step to the side and let the captain pass me. His eyes are widening a little, he probably thought he was fast, but for me he is very slow. The captain then throws a leg at me, but I block it with my hand. I grab his leg and throw him to the ground. He gives out a small grunt when the air leaves his lungs. I launch my leg for a kick in his stomach, but he rolls out of the way to my disappointment. I feel like I want to hurt him, like I want to kill him.

I wince almost unnoticeable for the public; no I can't let myself be drawn in about killing him. Not in front of the whole school. I take a deep breath as the captain stands up, rubbing his back in frustration. He glares angry at me; I return it with a fake smile. "Well, that shows me what you can do." I laugh out. He growls and runs forward once again. I stand still on my spot, waiting for him to get closer. I can also notice someone stepping out from the crowd. "Stop this fight now." The person says. The captain freezes at his spot, but I am already throwing a punch towards his head. Suddenly, without me noticing, someone grabs my neck and forces me to the ground, a loud crack is heard through the dojo as my nose breaks against the wooden floor. The stranger also captures my wrists behind my back. I could have reacted on my assassin instincts, but I forced them down with a lot of effort by biting my inner cheek hard so that the taste of metal fills my mouth. "How dare you!" The person who attacked me hisses, and he sounds angry. I move my head a little bit to the side, so that my cheek is facing the floor instead of my nose, and lets out a small sight in disappointment. I at least wanted to punch him, that guy pisses me off. If I can't kill him, let me at least punch him.

The other person walks towards me, kneeling down so that he can whisper in my ear. "I know you are an assassin." A girl voice whispers in my ear, making my eyes widen a little bit in realisation. This one is a girl, an assassin too. And judging by the other guys silent movements, he too must be an assassin. A smirk is growing on my face as the girl continues. "Your movements easily tell me so. Calm down, or else I will be forced to knock you out." I glance up towards the girl, her red eyes meeting mine for a brief moment. Deep down, I can see a little bit of rage in her eyes. If it were not from my years experience with people's eyes, I would not have noticed it. My smirk grows to a grin as I begin to relax in the other guys grip. The girl stands up, and soon after the guy stands up too. I sit up, touching my nose as I too stand up before glaring at the red eyed girl.

Who the hell is she? And why do I feel so mad around her? But before my rage could envelop I close my eyes and hums my mother's melody inside my head. I ignore my bolting wrists, trying to move my broken nose into the right position again. "Since this fight was after school times, I cannot punish those involved." The girl states, everybody in the dojo sights in relief, the captain loudest of them all. I open my eyes to glare at her once again, who is she, talking like that? Is she the principle or something? The girl turns towards the entrance while saying. "Come along then Heng Ru Shi. You only got here an hour ago correct? Then you would not have been given a proper tour of the school yet as you would have had to do much paperwork... I will give you a tour then." The room erupts in loud whispers. "What? Jing-shèng giving a new student a tour?" "He must be really important for JING-shèng to give him a tour!" I look around the hall, a little bit confused. Jing-shèng? What is that supposed to mean? Is that girl really holy and scary? I don't see anything special in her. I grin one last time towards the captain as I follow the black haired girl and her blond butler out of the dojo.

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><p>Oooh~! This is a looong chapter! O_O I can't believe I wrote this! Hurray for me! ^^<p>

Heng Shi: …

Oh right, Heng Shi is still unconscious… Now I can't annoy him… T_T Oh well, just be sure to review a prank for me you guys. Now that we have a chance, we should do something very evil to him. Hehehehe… That is what he will get for almost killing my readers, and especially Gaara the Magical Panda, glad that you are still alive and well! ^^ Before anyone asks, I have no idea why I like creating evil badass characters. I just feel like I want to be that way, evil and crazy. (Alright I am already crazy but you know what I mean…) I have never done something against the law, so I just feel like a criminal if I make my characters evil in my fan fictions. Yea, I am weird sometimes… As you can notice, Jing from 'legend of the assassin' will join the story again. I and AnimeVamp1997 have some awesome scenes planed up, but you have to read that later in the next chapter! ^^ See you soon!

**(Be sure to vote on my poll, i need help with my next fanfiction!)**


	12. School tour

Hi everyone! I am back~! ^^ I am sorry that I haven't updated in almost a whole moth, so sorry! T-T But instead of being depressing, now it is time to be evil, hehehehe… As you may remember, I knocked Heng Shi out (Have no idea why he became unconscious for a whole month) in the last chapter because he wanted to kill my readers. (I planned on doing this for a long time…) He wanted to have some fun, but thanks to my awesome giant hammer I stopped him. Now it is time for payback!

-A spotlight lights up in the room, showing Heng Shi tied to a chair. I dance into the light and pat his head-

I tied Heng Shi here to a chair since he will not be very happy with the prank we are giving him. I have a friend with me who is much better at this stuff than me. Say hi to Jing! ^^

Jing: Hi everyone, shall we begin? –Gives a small wave-

Yea, sure. Let me just tell the readers something first. The prank we will do towards Heng Shi is pretty simple; we will give him a make-over! Jing here will do most of the work while I write my story. I had to come up with this prank myself since you guys didn't help me… -Emo cloud- Is my story really that bad?

Jing: -Stares blankly at me- If your story would have been bad, no one would review, even less add your story as favourite.

Yea, you're right! Now I am happy again! –Happy dance-

Jing: Alright let's do this before the boy wakes up… -Brings up a lot of hair supplies-

Yea… -Brings up a lot of make-up- Enjoy the story everyone, while we enjoy the prank. Heng Shi will so hate me for this. Kukukuku…

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><p>I followed the strange girl out from the dojo, still glaring at her while rubbing my still broken nose. She turns around and began to walk towards the school building. The blond butler looks hesitant as he walks beside her, keep sending glances back towards me. That blond guy interrupted my fight with the bastard; or rather it was the red eyed girl. She was the one who stepped up first. She pisses me off just by being in her presence, which is why I tried to hit her. That girl is so strange; I usually don't get angry at one person just by being close to himher. I also have this strange feeling that I have met her before.

We walked inside into the big hallway, which is now completely empty. They are about 20 ft in front of me, so I could not hear what they were saying. I finally cracked my nose in the right position. The girl glares sharply at the butler, who is now kneeling down to her like she is some kind of princess. Pft, yea right, that girl is clearly someone important to this school, but not a princess. And her aura is pissing me off for no clear reason, like she has done something completely humiliating towards me before. I want to kill her so bad, see her lifeless body on the floor and drain her empty on time energy as well as the time energy surrounding her. But why do I feel like I want to know more about her instead? Why do I hesitate!

I grind my teeth in anger as the girl says in a cold sharp tone "Are you questioning me Gao?" The butler Gao shakes his head. I walk faster towards them as Gao answers with a "No my lady". Why is that girl so different? I have to find out.

That is when I start to run towards them, I notice a small smile grace the girl's lips. She swiftly turns around and takes out a hidden knife in her sleeve and slashes it towards my stomach. I jump back, enough to only get a little cut on my shirt. I narrow my eyes at the still smiling girl, she won't smile much longer. I throw a kick in the stomach at the dumbfounded butler, making him crash into the wall with a sickening crack. The smooth stone now has a little buckle from the collision with the guys head. I see a flash of something similar to concern in the girl's eyes, so she cares. The girl turns towards me as I flash a small grin and pump some time energy into my legs so that I am behind the girl before she even has the time to blink. I put my palm against her back, pouring my own time energy through her body so that she is unable to move a single muscle and put my hidden knife against her throat. I carefully make small strings of my energy around her own energy source, slowly breaking her mind wall without her noticing while I say to her.

"I have no idea who you are, or which organisation you come from, but if you move around to much you will kill yourself. Now, I want to ask you some questions. What are you to this school? What is your name? Why do you piss me off just being in your presence, so much that I would like to kill you slowly and painfully? But here is my real question... Why do I hesitate?" I can hear her heartbeat increasing in speed, it seems like she have no idea how I stopped her movements. But it's natural, only the ones with the time treasure can control time energy in this level. I let her face muscles be the only things that will be able to move, because if she can move her head, she can knock me down. Since my face is right behind the back of her head. I am a little pissed that I am just as tall as this girl… Damn…

The girl answers my questions in a monotone voice. "I am too important to this school for you to kill me. If you do, be warned that you WILL be hunted and killed. Easily. You have no idea. My name is of no importance to you and maybe it is just your childish personality that makes me infuriating to you." I can hear the smirk in her voice when she says her last sentence. She lets out a short mirthless laugh before she continues. "You seem to have no control of your emotions, boy. And it seems I am the complete opposite of you. You don't think things through do you? Act then think, hm?" I let out a small growl. Sure it happens that I take chances, but I am not stupid as she makes it sound like. I got betrayed by my organisation about 2 weeks ago, so I am certain that I have trained longer that her. And my emotions are my power, so she just went too far. Her mind wall is soon gone, pretty weak in my opinion. She spoke once again, now in a mocking tone. "You sound like a dog, BOY."

I made my energy threads squeeze her source, certain that I have brought her to pain I speak in a cold angry tone. "Yea, so what. I like feelings; they make me who I am. Sure, I was taught to push away feelings because they make you weak, but for me it is the opposite. The angrier I am, the more I think. And the more I think, the more dangerous I am. No one has been alive long enough to even catch a glimpse of my true potential. Some people might say that anger devours you, making you unable to think, but I am not normal. I have trained far longer than you have." Her mind wall broke while I spoke to her, so I immediately connected my mind to hers, reading through her memories like a book. I saw a little boy with tanned skin and blond hair tied up in a ponytail. I also saw few glimpses of the elders from bloody rain, and also one about the attack before she managed to shove me out from her mind.

So, this girl comes from bloody rain, and that kid in her memory was named rain… And if I heard right, the girl called one of the elders father. Interesting… I step back from the girl and take away my hidden knife from her throat, still binding her, while I say. "Oh, and you have to watch your butler, he can be dead for all I care but I would like to see the whole school." Surely, that is a lie. I only want to find out more about this girl, she has some great potential if she is able to shove me out from her mind.

I drain back my energy from her body, with a feral grin plastered on my face. I remove my hand from her back and she turns cautiously around to look at me, with a slight hint of confusion in her eyes. That only makes my grin grow wider. She is a mystery to me, and I am now a mystery to her. We will both try to figure each other out, but I have a few more hints on her than she has to me. On my assassin's profile, I have brown flat hair instead of my spiky white. I forced the elders to post that picture on my information profile instead since I want my looks to be held a secret. I still have the same eyes though, but everything else is different on the picture. Ah~ Photoshop will hold my real identity safe. The girl looked over to the butler and put her knife back into her sleeve. She strode over to Gao's side, checking for his pulse.

I just stand there waiting, bored out of my mind. I couldn't care less about him. I begin to gather the time energy around the two, my necklace glowing with a faint white light. The girl also checked the back of his head, I could feel his injuries way over here and it isn't anything serious. Just a small concussion. She takes out her phone and begins to talk with the school nurse, describing where to find the blond. After her call she stands up and looks over to me, seeing my bored expression. I can see a little flare of anger before she abruptly turns and walks away from the scene with a 'follow me gesture' over her shoulder directed to me. That angry glare made an unfamiliar feeling in my chest; I look over to the unconscious butler. "You wanted to see the school right?" The girl says to me. I jumped over to the butler soundlessly and tap his forehead one time before following the girl. I think I am growing soft, healing his concussion like that. But for some reason, I feel like it is because of the girl that I healed him. Just like the time with that brat Kier in second life.

We walk down the large hallway to our first destination, me walking after the girl. I am now calm now that I hum some of my mother's songs inside my head, those songs are really calming. And that is coming from me who am almost all the time angry or irritated. I am so spaced out that I didn't notice when we walked to an elevator at the end of the hallway. A soft ding woke me up from my calming daze, I instantly became irritated. I stepped outside the elevator behind the girl and turned around to see what floor we where on. It says floor number two. I look to the right to look for the girl, but she was nowhere in sight. I turned left and saw her walking away in that direction. I kept my distance from her so I didn't see the need to quicken my pace. I again begin to hum the songs in my head, if I didn't I would surely think about how I would get out information from this girl or about that butler that I healed before. If I would think about those things it would lead to further different thoughts and that would lead to me being angry and well, you can figure out what would happen then now that the corridors are completely empty.

After walking for a few more silent minutes she stopped. Again, I was broken out from my daze and looked at thee door we just stopped in front of in irritation. (Get's irritated by every single thing huh?) Before us is a light wooden door with a small sign atop it, decorated with gold leaf, that boldly declared in swirly Vivaldi font that we are standing before the door of the classroom 104. The girl puts her fingers in the rectangular indent of a door handle and slides the door open and walked inside the classroom, me walking not too far behind. I can easily some to the conclusion that this is where my favourite subject will be, the art room.

The wallpaper and carpet is the same as the rest of the room. Mahogany office desks littered the room, splattered with many different colours of paint and with leather chairs behind them. Lining the walls are counters with sinks symmetrically placed four squares apart from each other in the counters. Art supplies in cups, bottles, and containers are placed upon the counters in spots marked by construction paper with the teachers writing on it taped to the wall. The teacher's desk stands at the foremost of the room, directly in front of a blackboard with the day's demonstrations still not erased. Paintings are lining the walls between cabinets and sculptures are lying unfinished or finished on the counters.

The room looks very expensive and charming at the same time. I must admit, this classroom is like the subject, art. "This is the art room, in case you haven't noticed." The girl said sarcastically. That made me scrawl a bit, I hate it when people make sarcastic comments. (Is there something you don't hate?... -_-) "It is your first period class. Your teacher is Mr. Hathaway." The girl turns around and walk out the door, I seriously want to kill her but I know that I can't. I take a few deep breaths; look around the room once again before making my way out. The girl waited for me outside and then began to walk down another hallway as I stepped out of the door. We soon arrive at room 183, me still singing in my head. The girl open the door and steps inside, letting me walk in and examine the room. "Science. Your teacher will be Ms. Clearwater." The girl says shortly. I wanted to glare at her, but instead I glared at the room as I examine it.

The science room is much like the art room with the exception of all the art supplies. In its place is everything a scientist would need. This room is on an outer wall of the school and has large windows that reach the ceiling and floor. There were leather window seats and many soft pillows at the bottom of the window and black curtains tied to the sides of the windows with thick golden rope with tassels at the end of them. After I looked over the room the girl simply walked to the hallway, I follow her shortly after. She points at different rooms in the hallway and just says the subject, room and teacher. "Room 238, English. Ms. Smith." "Room 262, Math. Mr. Beck." We continue to walk to the back of the school, me getting more and more irritated and angry by her attitude. We walk into a large building; it is two stories high and is about a half a mile long. Throughout the whole building are indoor courts and work out rooms. I had to whistle at the size of this gym as we walk inside, it is huge. I can work out on my own here without being disturbed. A grin spreads across my face as I think of all the things I can do here; maybe even practice my weapons after school.

"The first floor is for the male population of the school, while the second floor is for the females. We do not let our students get distracted with ogling the other genders."  
>The girl says to me, I had to snicker at that. So if the boys and girls are on different floors, no one will disturb me if we get to do what ever we want. But I the main reason being of the guys checking out the girls to much to focus on the lesson, that is just weird. The girl turns around and walks out of the gym and into the school once again, I follow her. We later ended up on the third floor, where I have even more classes it seems. "Room 321, History. Mr. Robinson." The girl pointed at the door.<p>

She turns again and I let out a small growl in annoyance. Why does she turn around so much? This is so irritating. We walk down three more hallways before standing in front of another door, this time she opens the door, letting me go inside to take a look at the classroom. "Room 367, Design and Technology. Ms. Witherson." Inside are long desks in two rows all of them with black glass covering. I send the girl a questioning glance, what's with the black glass? The girl sighs and walks over to a desk. She then taps the 'black glass'. It quietly whirred to life. I jump a little in surprise, what the hell? The 'black glass covering' had actually been the screen to the touch screen computer embedded into the desk. The girl speaks to me in her all mighty glory. Note sarcasm. "Here at the university we have the most high-end technology not only for education, but entertainment as well." Suddenly a page popped up with a keyboard at the bottom and prompted for a password. She simply waves her hand over the screen in an upward motion. I watch the scene in interest. The page that is prompting her for a password and the keyboard came up into the air as a hologram. I feel my eyes widen, I have never seen this kind of technology before during my years as an assassin. She puts her hands a little in front of the keyboard - not actually touching it - and begins to type. She taps the air in front of the enter key after she was done. I have no idea what she just did. She now turns and motion towards the hologram in the air, loading the home screen while looking towards me, yellow eyes meeting red ones.

"This is what you'll be using during your Design and Technology class. Of course, there's much more than the simple thing that I have showed you, but you will be taught that and given you password and username in due time. Now, let us move on." She turns off the computer in the desk and walk out. I can't help but to feel relieved that I will be thought how to handle those computers, or else I will look like a fool. We end up in front of another room. "Room 394, Music. Ms. Williams." As soon as those words left her mouth, a warm feeling is spreading through my body as I think of my mother. She really loved music, as much as I do, but after she died I never wanted to show my talents to anyone. It would be like betraying her if I played her music to someone else.  
>I walked into the room right behind the black haired girl; this room is larger than all the others, about twice the size of the already large rooms. There are a few desks at the back of the room, but at the forefront of the room stands the musical instruments. A pair of stark white and pitch black grand piano's is facing each other at the head of the room. Behind them are all other types of instruments. Cellos, flutes, violins, drums. Almost everything. It is amazing how all these instruments can fit in one room; I can find all the instruments that I and my mother used to play together. A sudden pang of pain hits my chest as I think of my mother; she and my father were the only persons that I ever fully loved. But now that they are gone, I can only have them in my memory, thinking about all the good times and bad times that I had with my family. We stayed longer than usual in this room, me thinking about my mother and the girl thinking about something else, before leaving.<p>

The girl once again began to point at different directions. She first point down another hall on the left. "Room 323 Chinese. Mr. Thompson." Then she point towards another hall to the right of the first one. "Room 245 Demolition Education. Mr. Acton. You will be sharing that class with me, as I am learning to be an explosive technologist. You may go home now, the tour is over. You will have to find anything else you need on your own tomorrow."  
>With that, she turned and walked away. I look back at the music room longingly before shaking my head, heading home. The tournament will be very soon, I have already buyed a ticket, so why not kill some monster to kill time. I let a crazy grin flash my face as I walk threw the different corridors towards the exit. Yes, kill monsters to kill time, a nice phrase. I like killing things, if only I could kill those stupid sympathetic feelings as easy as a life, then I would no longer have any feelings to hold me back from killing some special people. And that black haired girl is on my list.<p>

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><p>Yay! Another chapter! ^^ I wanted to show his deep love for his long gone mother, I think it is really sweet how much he cares.<p>

Jing: I am done, M.A. Can I get 'those' now that my work is done?

-Looks at Heng Shi with a happy grin- Oh my gosh, it's perfect! Thanks Jing! –tries to glomp her, but she gets out of the way. I fall to the floor- Ouch! Oh well, I forgive you. Awesome work, really.

Jing: -blank stare- Can I get those now?

Yea, yea, sure. A promise is a promise, here. –Gives Jing a folder which says 'secret'-

Jing: Thanks –walks away-

Bye bye Jing~! Don't let the shadow monsters eat you on your way home~! Man, she sure can make a great make-over. I mean, look at him, he looks like a girl! –Giggle-

Heng Shi:-Begins to wake up-

I have to take a photo before he wakes up! –Takes picture with camera- He look really pretty!

Heng Shi: My head hurts, what happened? Where am I?

You my friend got knocked out, but you are still in my room.

Heng Shi:-Gives me an intense glare while trying to stand up in the chair- You bitch, I will kill you.

-Pulls up a large mirror from the ground- Look at this! –Runs away with computer-

Heng Shi; WHAT THE HELL! COME BACK HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU! YOU BITCH!

I'd rather not! –Giggle- That was funny. -Types some things on the computer-

Heng Shi: A black hole! Fuck!

Now, he is gone~! It will take a long time before he can appear again. If you want the picture of Heng Shi's make-over you have to review. Or are you even reading my conversations with Heng Shi? I don't care, as long as you read my story, enjoy it and review, I am happy.


	13. Beginning of the tournament

Yay! I got another review! ^^ Thank you HikariNoTenshi-San! Heng Shi will play music, but just not in public. This chapter will focus on the tournament that is held in second life. He will meet prince again and he will… well you have to see for yourself! Enjoy! ^^

**Disclaimer: Yay, another disclaimer! ^^ I don't own Odd Squad or any other team mentioned in this chapter, but I do own Sabre and Garel.**

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><p>As I logged in on second life, I find myself at the same spot as before in star city. I look around in the black alley, looking for my dragon Garel. He always goes off somewhere to kill monsters after I log out, then return to me when I log in with the monsters loot. I and Garel are very alike, we both like to kill, we both have a large bloodlust and we can understand each other through our eyes. Ever since I hatched Garel from the egg that I got from the phoenix, we have been the best partners there is. Garel understands when I will be left alone; he doesn't disturb me when I fight or when I sit down in my own thoughts. He also helps me when I need it, like when the girls in town are being annoying pests or when there are a lot of mobs left even though I used my lightning spells. Usually when I get help from someone, I hate it. But when I get help from Garel, I appreciate it. He is like the best partner someone like me could have.<p>

I hear the faint sound of wings coming closer. Soon, I feel a familiar weight on my broad left shoulder plate as my dragon lands on it. Garel has grown quite a lot since I got him, so for him to be able to sit on my shoulder, I had to expand the shoulder plate. Garels sharp green claws are digging into the metal as he flaps his wings to keep himself steady. Its white scales are glowing white in the alley and his red eyes meet my yellow ones. I reach my hand up towards Garels back, where there is a leather bag where Garel fills all the loot in. I remove the straps from him swiftly before I remove the flap to look inside.

Garel has collected good loot today. I flash a happy grin at Garel, who growled approvingly with his red eyes flashing with pride over what he has collected. In the leather bag lie 5 big coin bags, 4 containers with zombie blood, 2 demon horns and a gem. I can sell the demon horns and the zombie blood for a high prize and I can forge the gem into my sword to boost it up. I empty Garels bag into my pouch and attach the bag on Garels back once more. I give Garel a knowing smirk before I poke him lightly on his leg and walk out on the busy street in the star city.

I am getting known more and more in this town, the girls are now screaming stuff like "Sabre! Over here!" or "Sabre, let me pet your dragon!" Usually when the girls scream how they want to pet Garel, he snorts out some red flames towards those people to shut them up. The guys usually say stuff like "Get out of here!" or "I challenge you, Pure lightning!" I got a very unusual nickname since I have unusual speed and can do lightning attacks. At first it was quite annoying like the other nickname bishie, but now it just feels like another name. I continue to wear my smirk as I enter a shop to sell the zombie blood and demon horns that Garel collected.

The woman NPC character behind the counter is the same as always. She gives me a small smile, knowing who I am and what I have come for. "Hello Sabre, here today again I see. What can I do for you?" Her bright blue eyes are shining with happiness and she plays with her long blond hair nervously. I place the zombie blood and demon horns on the counter as I say in monotone. "I'll sell these. And buy one mana potion." The girl nods, takes the items and place them behind the counter. She gives me one healing potion and 16 gold coins in change. "Here you go, have a nice day." She gives me another warm smile. Garel breaths out some threatening red flames towards the NPC, but she doesn't even flinch. She is used to that now. I give the girl an evil smirk before I turn around. "I sure will, the tournament begins today. I have bought a ticket so that I can see all the matches; it will be fun to watch them kill each other." I walk out the door towards the forger next.

As I reach the arena, with my now powered up sword, the arena is crowded. I look around myself from where I stand by the opening. You can feel the excitement in the air as everybody wait for the tournament to start. I want as good view as possible. I can see two seats across from the whole arena. I flash a small smirk, causing the girls that watch me to drool. I poke Garel in the leg and points at the seats. Garel give me a quick nod before jumping off my shoulder, flying towards the seats that I pointed out. I slowly make my way around the arena, knowing that Garel holds the seats for us. Quiet whispers erupt among the players as I pass by.

The battles are already starting and I finally reach Garel. He is lying on both seats while growling at the players that pass him, making them quicken their pace in fear. Garel notices me and sits up so that he is only using one seat. He is too big to be able to sit in my lap now that he has gained so many levels. I remove my sword off my back, sit down and enjoy the show. The wicked grin never leaving my face as I watch the other players kill themselves.

"The next battle is between team 540 Perfect Princess against team 4444's Odd squad!" The announcer says in the speaker. I move my gaze towards the arena closest to me where the fight is about to start. 6 people are already standing there, 1 girl and 5 boys. The people around me start to cheer on the team. Garel let out a growl in annoyance, I nod at Garel approvingly. The girl dances for the boys and they cheer for her some more, such fools. I listen to the speaker again. "Coming from the east side is the Odd squad, their formation being… People please reread the previous volumes. 'Chough chough'" I look over to the east side, flashing a bigger grin (If possible) as I recognise two persons in the team. It is the white haired boy with red eyes and the brown haired girl in the half ponytail. The ones that I met at the pet store some time ago. I lean forward in excitement as I once again zone out the announcer. I share a glance with Garel, both of us thinking the same thing. 'Let's see what they can do'.

I must say that I underestimated this team. Since those two that I met before, I think the guy's name is Prince and the girl's name is Loli something, were really scared of me with all the blood on my clothes. That meat bun pet is useful enough to knock out two enemies at least. They work really well together. There is a man beast priest, a little girl in cute clothing that is a necromancer, a musician elf that is a bard, that Loli girl is a thief, Prince is a warrior and a girl magician. The other team doesn't stand a chance against them. It is quite amusing to see the girl panic about not being protected from her 'protectors'. The girl has fallen head over heals for the warrior elf. As the elf kills the girl, without mercy, the whole arena grows quiet. A happy, slightly crazy, grin appears on my face as I clap my hands. The elf stops swinging his sword to remove the blood from it and looks up at me with a confused look. He seems to recognise me immediately since the colour on his face turns pale; I can see Loli react the same while the other team mates watch me with mixed emotions.

I also receive some crept out looks from the audience as I say to Prince with a now delightful smile on my face. "Good performance, Prince. You have to work on some flaws though if you want me to call you something like the 'blood elf' as I have heard a few people talk about." I let a dark smirk replace my smile for just a second, but Prince gets just a little bit paler so I guess he saw it. The speaker also seems a little pale as he announce in the microphone "Odd… Odd Squad wins!" Happy shouts erupt from the audience, cheering on Odd Squad and Prince. I keep my happy smile on as I walk threw the lines towards the exit. I glance one last time at Odd Squad. Prince is still frozen on his place, his gaze lingering on me. Loli pretty much does the same. The little girl necromancer hides behind the big man beast priest who is looking at me in suspicion. The magician is looking worryingly at Prince and the girl while the purple haired bard is looking at me with hatred flaring in his eyes. I flash a wicked grin at the bard before I walk out of the arena with Garel sitting on my shoulder once again.

I feel like killing something right now, so I am walking towards the dragon fury mountain where I can fight some dragons. I am already at level 56, so it will be a piece of cake. I remove my broad sword from my back. Garel flies up into the air and lets out a huge war cry to draw dragons towards us. As Garel lands beside me, I can hear the sound of heavy feet running towards me. I nod at Garel, saying that he has done a good job, before I cast a small lightning spell to infuse my sword with lightning so that it is 10 times as deadly.

All the dragons come all at once, from behind me and in front of me. They let out similar battle cries as Garel had done to accept the challenge. With one swift swing I mumble 'sonic slash' and immediately kill the most of the dragons in front of me. The shockwave being filled with high electricity kills the following dragons, burning them from the inside. There are only two dragons left in that group, so I leave them to Garel. I turn around to face the mobs behind me. I transform my broad sword to the hammer and expand it. I smash it down upon the first 5 dragons crushing them, making the blood splatter everywhere and paint the mountain walls in a beautiful colour. I transform my hammer to the twin blade with chains and toss one of the blades towards the dragons who are forming two lines for lack of space. As expected, the dragons are dodging the blade, making the chain come in between the two lines. I grin deviously as I make the spikes emerge from the chain, making the spikes longer by adding some mana. The spikes are slicing through the two lines of dragons, killing them in an instant.

As all the bodies disappear in many pillars of light, I can see that one dragon survived. Garel walks up beside me, being done with the other two that I left for him, motioning towards the hurt dragon. I shake my head with the big grin still on my face and walk up to the bleeding dragon. I lift up the dragons head so that I can look at it in the eye. I clench my fist, making the metal spikes come out from my glove. I expand them with my mana and I thrust the spikes into the dragon's throat. The dragons' eye becomes blank with death as it too disappears in a pillar of light. I rise from the ground, dusting myself off a bit, before walking away towards the star city once more. Now that I have stilled my blood lust, I can watch the tournament.

The tournament is very amusing to watch, it would be great to be a part of it but I will not allow myself to work in a team. Kill, kill and kill again. Ahh… That is what I like… I don't listen to the announcer anymore, just content with watching the fights. Odd Squad has won many fights and is now the finals. My favourite battles that I have watched are the one with perfect princess (where Prince killed without mercy, sweet), team phoenix (Where there were total destruction of the other team), Hell's murderers (Where Prince talked about a very cruel type of killing, made me shiver in delight at the words since I myself have killed that way one time) and demon demon team. (Where Prince died, finally, and that there where total destruction to that team as well) Odd Squad is very good, but I really would like to test Prince in a one to one combat. I want to experience his swordsmanship before their final battle. The battle between Odd Squad and Demon demon team ended just now. The whole arena is completely destroyed and almost all the players have fled the area. I just smashed the entire rumble that dared to come near me, creating a circle of rocks around me and Garel.

I look over to the mentioned dragon and he nods, appearing as if he just read my thoughts. I flash an evil grin towards Odd Squad and then at Prince, who is sitting on a row opposite of me. Be prepared, Odd Squad, you are going to have a small visit from me very soon. It is soon time for me to log out so I leave the arena, walking past Prince who has a big boulder on his head. Garel stops by Prince for just a few seconds before flying to me to sit on my shoulder as always. I give Garel a quick questionable look and he replies it with a devilish grin which means 'I prepared him a little'. And by 'preparing' in this situation is scaring. We will see how Prince will react when we meet again. I walk inside the same dark alley as last time, nodding good bye to Garel and log out.

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><p>Like it? Hate it? Review it! When do you think he should confront Prince and duel with him? And also, do you think I should make Heng Shi talk to me again? It's your choice; because I can't think about anything fun to talk to him about… T_T But anyway, if you also read 'legend of the assassin', the question at the end of chapter 14 will most likely be answered in this story since Heng Shi is my character. I will also add the poll results in this story, so here it comes! ^^<p> 


	14. Encounter with Prince

Hi everyone! It's me again! ^^ I have had a lot of free time since my school has started to prepare for our Christmas concert. Hurray! That means more free time and more doing fanfics! I have already started on my other naruto fanfic and it is good in my opinion. Just hope you guys think so too… :S But anyway, this fanfic is not about naruto. It is about half prince. In this chapter, Sabre (Or Heng (Ru) Shi) will have a battle with Prince to test his skills. And if you want something special to happen, just review or PM me. Enjoy my chapter~! ^^

**Disclaimer: I don't own Odd Squad or any other character mentioned in this chapter except for Garel and Sabre.**

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><p>This new school is really impressive and boring at the same time. I just have normal lessons like Math, English, Science and stuff. I skip my music lesson to play on my ocarina on the roof; I don't want anybody else to know about my talents. It makes me feel like I am stealing the fame from my dead mother. All the girls can't stop staring at me as I walk down the hallways in the school. I always wear my facemask in public, because if I don't I would surely scare every single student if I loose my temper. If all the students would become scared of me, I would blow my cover I have build up.<p>

My karate 'leader' is becoming more and more pissed to see me in the corridors. I would also hate the person who wants something that is mine, but I don't want his stupid girlfriend no matter how much I smile around her, I do it with everyone. But no one seems to notice how fake my smiles actually are. Except for that red eyed girl. I have now discovered that that girl is the school 'president' and her name is Jing. This 'president' is very important for the school since she is the one who is responsible for the schools income.

Nothing special happened at the school and when I got to my house, I just worked out some, taking a shower, making dinner, doing my homework, watching TV and then later log on to Second life. I have already decided to test out Princes strength tonight; we will see when I get to see him. Maybe I should just watch one of his matches and then follow him until I see an opportunity to fight him. That sounds like a good plan.

Garel is already in the alley when I arrive. Today, Garel has collected good loot once again. (I am too lazy to come up with anything… -_-) I walk to the usual store and sell the items, gaining 20 gold coins. Garel is defeating harder and harder monsters for each day and he is slowly growing, so soon he won't be able to sit on my shoulder anymore. Also, because of Garel killing monsters while I am gone I gain a lot of experience since he is my pet. I can't ask for any better pet, if I wouldn't have gotten Garel that day my pet surely would have been afraid of me. Because of my rather violent (understatement…) personality and my method of killing.

The streets are crowded like always, and like always most people scream different things to me. Garel keeps giving deadly glares to as many players as he can as I walk towards the arena. I don't bother to sit down this time since I am going to leave soon. Garel flies down to the ground and lies at my feet where I lean against the wall. Odd Squad is already battling against another team; they seem to know each other because they start to talk to each other.

The other team is being splintered and one of the girls kisses Prince. For some people, this might be touching and heart wrenching, but not for me. I am truly disgusted, I hate mushiness. That is the worst thing ever in my opinion. Prince certainly is heartbroken, he looks so devastated. I turn away from the arena in disgust, Garel notice me leaving and follow soon after.

I walk towards the contestant's area and wait for Prince to appear. Soon Garel snorts out some red fire, signalizing that Prince is on his way. I flash a grin as I look at the doors, soon enough Odd Squad walk out of it, Prince having a big depression cloud over him. I snort in irritation; I have to wait until he is happy again until I will be able to fight him. How annoying…

The little girl necromancer says that she has to do something and runs off. I follow the rest of Odd Squad to a restaurant where they sit down to eat. I position myself in a far corner to spy on them. Prince is so depressed that he doesn't even eat, let alone react when the gay purple haired guy is stuck to him like a squid. What can make him so depressed? A waiter walks up to me, blushing, and asks if I want something to eat or drink. I just answer a simple no and continue to spy on Odd Squad.

"Haha! You don't need to worry about stuff like this! In reality, everyone is different from his or her online character!" The Mage speaks up. I feel a smirk grace my face; I think I can appear soon, he seems to be perking up. I nudge at Garel beside me; he lifts his head up to look at Odd Squad. I stand up and Garel is walks up beside me. The little girl necromancer is now coming into the restaurant as Prince is beating up the gay guy.

"My, my, I am certainly missing something fun. Care if I join your beating, I will try to not kill him." Prince stops in the middle of a punch and turns pale as he sees who said that. I flash a grin at him at the same time as Garel snorts out some red flames. "Hello Prince, long time no see. It's nice to see you and Lolidragon again. How is that pathetic pet coming along? Is it dead yet?" The other members in Odd Squad flash angry looks at me; the gay guy's being the most heated one. The little girl is the first to speak. "Meatbun is not pathetic! He is really strong!" I only point at Garel as a response and he shoots red flames towards the girl. She hides behind the man beast.

"Just who do you think you are?" The magician asks me in a calm voice. I flash a grin at Prince, which makes him look paler, and answers with an evil chuckle. "You will soon learn who I am. And I am here to spar with Prince. I want to see if he is worthy being called 'blood elf'." The purple haired guy is in front of Prince as soon as I finish the sentence. "I will not allow you to hurt Prince." He says with venom dripping in his voice.

I cross my arms over my chest and flash a confident smirk. "He will fight me weather he likes it or not, I have already decided. He can either be prepared or face me or I can attack him without further notice. I will not use my sword; I only want to see how Prince handles his sabre." Prince still looks doubtful over the other guys shoulder; I can also clearly see that he is afraid of me. Just one meeting and he is scared of me, pathetic. "What is in it for me if I fight you?" Prince asks me, trying to sound calm but is unsuccessful. I stare at him in amusement as I reply. "Well, if you win I will do you a favour. Like saving you from your fan girls or killing someone. I will also remark the things you lack in swordsmanship, so you can also see this as a lesson. I can sense that you have the potential to become a good fighter and that has gotten to my interest. I really don't know why I even want to do this; I guess I am growing soft towards people again." The angry glares are replaced with suspicious or interested gazes.

Lolidragon steps forward and stands next to Prince, who is still behind the purple haired man. "What is in it for you then? Why do you want to fight Prince?" I sight and look at Lolidragon with a bored gaze. "I have already told you, I don't know why I want to do this. But it is a good way to kill time, it will make me entertained. And if I see enough potential in him, we'll see what happens. I don't really know I just follow my instincts." I look at Prince once more to be met by determined red eyes. I smirk as response. I point at the door, where a lot of people have gathered to see what is going on. "Shall we take it outside; I am not going to pay for any damage to this restaurant." Prince nods and pushes Lolidragon and the other guy out of the way. The purple haired guy seems hesitated to let him pass. "Prince…" "It's ok Gui, I won't lose." I can only smirk at his stupidity as I walk out from the restaurant, Odd Squad follows me outside and I can hear them talk to each other. I wonder what that made Prince so confident all of a sudden, maybe he has something in mind that he want me to do if he wins.

I signalise to Garel to step back and clear the area. He nods and shoots out flames to scare people away, successfully creating a clearing on the crowded street. Odd Squad is also standing back. "Go on and attack me however you want, whenever you want." Prince takes out his black sabre and charges at me. He is running with his sword in both his hands, prepared to swing. As he swings the sword at me I jump up into the air and lands on it, making Prince loose his grip on the sword. "Always have a good grip on your sword, or you will drop it and give the sword to the enemy." I kick Prince in the stomach, making him slide back a few meters. I flip the sword into the air with my feet and catch it. "Your movement has to be swifter, a warrior is not supposed to be strong, but quick and skilful. You are focusing on power right now to beat me, focus on speed instead." I toss the sword over to prince so that it buries into the ground in front of his feet. I cross my arms, waiting for him to attack me again. "Try it again, and then I will fight you back."

An audience is gathering around us and Odd Squad stares at me with surprise, awe or anger. Once again, Price attacks me. I step aside a little bit, dodging his blade. I dodge a few more swings before I throw a punch at his face; he blocks it with his arms. I step back to kick him but he dodges. I let him attack me again before finishing off this match by flipping over him and kicking Prince into a stone wall. He manages to turn in the last second so that only his shoulder hits the wall. Pieces of stone and dust flies around the air, I walk over to the Prince. He is panting with exhaustion from out battle; it was like a small training for me, while I haven't even broken a sweat.

I look down at him with a blank face. "You are not even worth fighting if you keep thinking like you do. I don't even have to use my sword against you. You are pathetic." My last statement seems to hit him like a heavy rock. He stares down on the ground in defeat. "I have no idea what got you so confident that you can beat me, I am the pure lightning after all." I can practically feel Prince tense up, it seems like he knows what he is dealing with. "Next time we meet, I will kill you. If you don't want to die, become stronger." With those words, I turn around and begin to walk away with Garel trailing behind me.

"Wait!" I can hear someone call out. I turn around to see Prince surrounded by his team with a determined expression on. "If I defeat you, can I still have that favour? Can I still attack you whenever I want, however I want?" I start to chuckle evilly and give him my best dangerous/crazy glare, bringing everyone to shiver. "Sure, if you can succeed that is. I doubt it with your skills. Even my dragon is a better fighter than you." I once again begin to walk away from the scene. "Or you can just have such good techniques and tactics that I want to teach you. I really don't know what can happen; I always go with my instincts. You are just lucky that I feel like not killing players without good reasons. I am not completely heartless, just not the caring type." I turn around and flash Prince one last dangerous/crazy grin before jumping up on the roof tops towards the forest of death. I need to kill something before I log out, soon I will have to kill in real life too. Or else, bad things will happen.

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><p>Oooh~! What can these 'bad things' be if Heng Shi doesn't kill? Well, you will find out that in the future. :P We'll see when I post the next chapter. It can take a week or even a month… But anyway, I said it up above, but I am not so sure if you read that so I will say it again: <strong>If <strong>**you ****want ****something ****special ****to ****happen, ****just ****review ****or ****PM ****me.** And on my poll, there is still a battle between the artists; the results haven't changed since last time. See you another time~! ^^


	15. Deal

Hi everyone! I'm back~! ^^ This is a very short chapter... -_- Sry for that… But anyway, in the last chapter, Sabre fought with Prince and won. In this chapter, it will be in real life again. Heng Shi will encounter Jing once more! Tjohoo! Now, enjoy~! ^^

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><p>I am now walking trough the corridors of my now abounded school. Everyone has already gone home after the classes ended. My steps are echoing when I walk towards the student council's room. I hate to admit it, but I need her help right now. This is something I can't do without asking her first and I hate it. I hate that girl even more than I hate Gin, and that's a lot.<p>

Outside the student council's door stands a small pale girl with shoulder long red hair. She wears a pair of round glasses and carries a clipboard with her. She seems hesitant, like she is afraid to knock. I growl in annoyance, I have to put up with my fake personality again…

"Do you need any help?" I ask her with a kind smile. She looks up and blushes in embarrassment. "N-no I-I don't. I-I am j-just going to r-report to Student C-council P-president." I nod and gesture to the door. "Well, I have to meet the Council President to discuss something in private. Care to announce my appearance?"

The shy girl nod and knock on the door. I can hear a stern 'Who is it?' from inside. "I-it's me m-my Lady! A-and there is s-someone here who w-wishes to see you." "Come in Chong." The voice inside says in a little softer tone. The little girl opens the door and steps inside, me following soon after. There by the black desk sits Jing with her hands folded in front of her. Her blond butler is standing behind her in a both protecting and respecting manner. Both of them tense up a little when they see me. I just continue with my act since the little girl is still here, so I just lift up my hand in a small greeting.

"Hi there Jing, long time no see." She just replies with a cold glare. I do a fake hurt expression and lift my hand to my heart. "Why the cold glare? Aren't you glad to see me? I have just come here for some advice." That comment seems to catch her attention a little. She looks over to the Red haired girl and motions her to leave us alone. The little girl casts a quick glance at me before bowing and walking out the door. After the door closes, I give her a hard glare.

"Listen, as much as I hate you, I can't deny that I need your help with my problem. So I will just ask you, you will answer and I will walk out the door like nothing happened and come back after a month." Jing narrow her red eyes at me and the Blondie takes a step forward protectively. I snort in amusement. "Hey, Blondie. How is that concussion of yours? Doing well? You better be since I wasted my time to heal you."

Jing narrow her eyes further, making her red eyes barely visible in the orange light. "Here is my problem… I need to kill."

Now, she blinks in surprise. "I need to kill, or else I will lose my self control and attack the whole school. If I kill someone from the school, they will notice sooner or later. And if I kill someone from the streets, it will be not as tempting. So I am asking you, who I can kill."

A tensed silence fills the room; Jing is looking at me with a mixture of disgusted and confused look. Then her smile turns dangerous, kind of smug looking. I give her a hard glare. "You realise you will be owing me for this correct?" My glare hardens ad I let out a growl. This is just why I hate this, to own her of all people a favour. She shakes her head in mock sadness, making me even more humiliated then necessary. "How many times do I have to tell you? You sound like a dog when you do that." Alright, she is really pushing it mocking me like that. I can kill her whenever I want without her even noticing before it happens. But I have to save my energy. The reason I am asking her this favour is not because I want to still my blood lust, I can do that in second life. No, I have to refill my stock on time energy; I have used so much on protecting my house so I don't have so much left.

I shake in anger and frustration; I need her so I can't kill her. Yet. "Fine." I manage to grunt out between clenched teeth. Her smile widens and she turns around her chair to face the window where you can see the gardens. "Gao, go get me the files." The Blondie seems to hesitate at first, but then complies when Jing gives him a stern glare. He replies with a 'yes my lady' and disappears.

I take a few calming breaths, forcing my muscles to relax. Think of something calming, like music. I keep tell myself. When I have finally calmed down, I look at Jing. She is facing the window with her finger tracing through the air. She is acting like there doesn't exist an assassin who can easily kill her within seconds inside the room. "I could kill you easily like this you know." I say to her in a now calm voice. I wonder how long I will keep that calm.

She is still gazing out the window, easily making me irritated. She also takes her time to answer me, which irritates me even more. "Oh, I know." She replies calmly. I just want to kill her right now…

I take one step forward without noticing and spit out. "Then why do you act as if I won't?" "Because I know you will not." She replies calmly and swings her chair around to face me with a bored look on her face. So much for being calm, I am practically burning in anger. I hate this girl more then anything else, why the hell does she have to be the president in the student council? That look on her face pisses me off to no end! I hate her!

I take another step forward. "How do you know that?" I sneer at her in anger, venom lining in my words. Her red eyes are still starring at me boredly as she replies. "Because currently, I am your only choice." A small smile appears on her face, I wonder why.

I take another step forward and am just about to ask her why she has that stupid smile when the stupid butler appears. He bows to Jing and places a stack of manila folders on the desk. He walks around the desk to stand by the girl's side while she picks up the first folder and tosses it to me. I catch it with ease and open the folder to see what is inside.

"That's a complete profile of a family that is currently trying to hinder this school and trying to kill me. Every month I go on a 'mission' of sorts to negotiate with these families like the one you're looking at to get them to support us rather than hinder us. If they don't... well, you get to sate you bloodlust." Jing says while I read the folder. I hide a smirk; she doesn't know the real reason why I have to kill. I have no idea what would happen if she knew the truth, and I am not planning to find out.

I close the folder again. "And if they agree to support you? What then?" I ask her. "We go to the next family. Do not worry. It's extremely rare that we get a night full of agreements." She then smiles challenging to me and asks a mocking question. "Will you be able to deal with it?" Her smile turns into a smirk.

I give her one of my hardest glares and toss the folder back to her. Half the way through the air, the folder opens and the papers fall all around us. Her smirk grows even wider when I answer with my crazy grin. "Of course I can."

She seems very satisfied with my answer but I then close my eyes cooly and begin to chuckle evilly. "But, if I don't get to kill someone during these missions…" I use my energy to change the colour and shape of my eyes a little. I open them to stare at Jing with now yellow eyes with red at the edges of the iris and the pupil cat like, making the eyes of a crazy demon with a huge blood lust hidden within. Her eyes widen a little bit in surprise. "I will make you pay without you even noticing…"


	16. That' feeling

Hi everyone! I'm back~! ^^ I got two new reviewers! Yay! Thank you Random person and SeaDevil! I am so happy! –Happy dance with candy sticks-

Heng Shi: Would you cut that out…

-Freezes and slowly turns around-

Heng Shi: -Hardest death glare ever-

-Backs away slowly- Hehehe… I thought I send you into a black hole…

Heng Shi: Yes you did, but you forgot my power to turn back time. I lost a lot of energy, and now you have to replace it…

-Runs away for my life- Waaah! Don't kill me! –Hides behind stone wall and types on computer quickly-

Heng Shi: Why can't I move?

-Snickers and look over the edge of the stone wall- Do you want to be attacked by fangirls instead?

Heng Shi: -Hard glare- I'll pass.

Yay! Heng Shi is back, and now I can annoy him even more! ^^ This is all thanks to SeaDevil that I talk with Heng Shi again, and I personally am happy with that.

Heng Shi: Well I hate this, I can't even move… Stupid computer powers… -Gives death glare to SeaDevil- I'll kill you when I get my hands on you…

Anyway, enjoy my chapter~! ^^ (The beginning will just be some of Heng Shi's thoughts.)

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><p>After making the deal with Jing, I immediately regret it. I can't stand being in the same room as the girl for 10 minutes, so how will I be able to stand a whole evening with her each month? –Sight- Why did I accept the offer in the first place? Because I have to kill and because I can't rely on anyone else not spreading that I am an assassin. And also because I want to know more about her since she comes from Bloody rain and was the daughter of their strongest elder.<p>

Wait, Bloody rain? Didn't Bolin say that he was from Bloody rain? He also has a little kid to take care of, so maybe Jing is Bolin. That can explain why I hated her when I first met her, because she reminds me so much of Bolin.

A smirk appears on my face. I can't kill her in real life, but I can kill her in the game. I chuckle darkly at the thought, if I am lucky, maybe I will encounter her in the game. Or maybe I will meet Prince…

After the fight with Prince, I didn't kill him just because I wouldn't feel satisfied with just killing someone who can't defend himself. I wonder if he is any better than the last time we met… Hmm… Well, time to log in…

As usual, Garel has collected good loot and a lot of experience. I even gained one level thanks to it. I sell the loot I don't want at the usual store, but I have a lot of money so why not spend it on something.

I have my powered up gloves which increases stamina and defence now. I have also upgraded my sword which makes it steal 5% of the enemy's health with each strike so that I regain my health a little. And the gem upgrade makes my sword even easier to infuse with lightning, meaning that I don't have to use so much mana anymore. My boots also increases my speed, and since I am really fast in reality it makes me super fast, but it can be useful to be faster sometimes.

"Can I see the power up accessories, especially the growing types?" I say to the NPC in a flat tone. She only nod and show me a list of different accessories and what they power up as well as what they look like. There are a lot of necklaces, so I say to the NPC to remove them from the list. My eyes scan the long list of accessories for a while before I pick out some of them with an evil grin.

I now walk out from the store with my new accessories on. I have two blood red chains hanging on my long black jacket which increases my defence a little more. I have a moving skull ring on my left pinkie which increases my health and increases the procreant of stealing techniques, making my sword steal 10% of the enemy's health now. On my right pinkie is a blood red ring with black thorn scrub moving within the ring which increases my speed with 20 points. On my left middle finger is a silver ring with a blue ruby in the middle which increases my intelligence and mana with 20 points. On my right middle finger is a black ring that seems to have the colour of the northern lights hidden inside of it which increases my spirit, wisdom and charisma with 10 points each. It also increases my luck with one point.

All of my accessories are growing type, so it was quite expensive. But I had a fortunate, so it didn't matter to me. I have about 1000 gold coins left so it wasn't such a big deal, I can always get more.

I feel like fighting a lot of monster at once, so I go to one of the places I know that a lot of monsters are gathered together and all the monsters are hard to defeat. I walk for a bit, looking for a huge group of monsters. I finally find one, but I saw Odd Squad together with another team also is in this area so I better act now before they come and get those before me.

I make a huge jump and land in the middle of the group of monsters with my heavy sword infused with lightning. All the monsters attack me at once, but I spin my sword above my head mumbling 'scatter storm', immediately huge cracks of electricity comes out from my sword and burn all the monsters withi radius. Then I transform my sword into the twin swords and throw one of the swords towards a small group of monsters. The chain is warping itself around the group and I pull in the chain at my end. The monsters cries in pain before they explode in a cascade of blood, making me smile in happiness. (Kind of like the smiles creepy clowns do) There are a few monsters left, so I lift my hand and shoot a lightning ball at them, making it explode in a cascade of electricity when it reaches the monsters.

I transform my sword to the katana and shake off the blood with a single swipe and begin to laugh like the insane murderer I am. I can hear the system notice say something, so I stop my laughter to listen. "Sabre: level up, Sabre: level up, Sabre gaining new skill: flame slash, Sabre: level up, Shape shifting sword: Level up, Shape shifting sword gaining new transformation: scythe, Garel: level up, Garel: level up."

Hmm… Impressive… Garel has gone up two levels, me three and my sword has gained a new transformation. I didn't know that I could learn any spells that doesn't involve lightning, but it seems that I can.

I turn around to look for more monsters when I am met by 11 pair of amazed, surprised and fearing eyes. I give them an evil grin, put my heavy sword on by back and slowly walk over to them. I stop just a few feet away from the group of players.

"Hello Odd Squad. Congratulations about reaching the final showdown. And it seems like you have made an alliance with another team. Care to introduce them?" I say to the team with a calm, dangerous voice, glancing slightly at the other team. All of them are standing really close to each other, like they are trying to hide something… It must be Prince since he is missing, poor coward.

The mage seems to be the calmest one at the moment and replies. "Why do you have to know about them? It's none of your business who they are. You don't even know most of the names of our group either; you are only interested in Prince anyway." I grin evilly at her and stop time for a moment to read her a bit before I start time again to answer her in a hissing tone. "You are wrong about that, Yulian. I know far to well who you are…"

Her eyes widen in chock as I turn to the other team. "I'm Sabre or pure lightning as a lot of people call me. Odd Squad is the only people I know that doesn't get on my nerves, so I tend to tease them when I meet them. And it seems like I will meet you more since you have made an alliance with them."

I grin at them evilly, most of them lean back a little in fear but one of them stands still with determination in his eyes. It is a boy mage with blond hair and a kind of girly face. The boy steps closer to me and says in a clear voice. "We are Dark Phantom and I am Miwa. I have a question, how are you able to cast such powerful lightning spells in just a few seconds?"

I smirk at him, hold up my hand and create a ball of lightning in the said hand. "I don't know. It must be a part of my class. I am the only magic swordsman in second life and it seems like the game master that created me was so found of me that she made my class this special." I drain my lightning ball into my hand again and lower my hand.

"I will be going now; I know that you won't amuse me with a fight after what you have seen." I turn around and walk away. Slightly disappointed.

Then, I can feel a presence behind me and something swinging towards my head. I clench my fist so that my spikes come out and block whatever being swung at my head. Without even looking backwards, I kick my attacker away from me. Very far.

I can hear a crash as my attacker hits the wall and I turn around to see who it is. It is Prince. He coughing for all the dust around him but meets my bored gaze with determined red eyes. Then I grin at him and in a flash, I am in front of him. My grin grows bigger at his shocked expression.

I throw a punch at his head, but he rolls out of the way in the last second. At first, nothing is shown in the stone wall, but after a few seconds a huge crater is formed together with four big cracks going it the weather lines. A few boulders fall to the ground as I back away from the wall. I chuckle evilly as I watch Prince's horrified expression. "I told you I would kill you the next time we meet. I am not holding back this time, but I will still use no sword."

I chuckle even more as I infuse my gloves in lightning, making my hands even more deadly now. I flash in front of Prince again, but this time he blocks my punch. I smirk at his stupidity and grab his sword and infuse lightning into it. Prince screams in pain and let go of his sword and stumble back a little.

I spin the sword in my hand while I say. "Your sword skills haven't improved at all. But you will die an honourable death for a warrior. A death caused by his own sword." I grab the handle of Princes sword and just when I was about to kill Prince, a few arrows is being shot at me, forcing me backwards.

I look over to the others too be met by the furious eyes of the guy named Gui. "Don't you even dare hurt my Prince." He says, venom lining his words. I only give him a smirk and replies. "Your little Prince doesn't deserve to be called a warrior, that's why I will kill him. He has a great sword, but he doesn't use it right. With his skills, he can never use this sword correctly. This is just a tool to him, just a worthless piece of metal. If you use the right technique, you can do anything."

I then swing Prince's sword towards the stone wall behind me without breaking eye contact with the bard. I can hear a small crack behind me before it erupts into a loud boom. Thanks to my increased strength in the game, the stone wall behind me now has a large crack in the same angle as I swung the sword.

Without waiting any further, I appear in front of Prince and stab him in the stomach. A happy grin appears on my face as his own is filled with pain. I then lean forward to his ear and whisper. "Why do you think you can defeat me? Your swordsmanship is too poor to be able to match up with mine. But your determination surprises me. I will see you again soon."

Just when I was about to slice through him, he says something very surprising. "Then teach me…" I blink in surprise before I throw my head back in laughter. "You have to be crazy to think that I would accept just anyone as my student. If anyone, he or she would be more experienced in swordsmanship than you are. But, if you defeat a certain monster, I might make an exception." But after that, I slice through him and he turns into a pillar of light.

I begin to laugh again as I toss the sword on the ground and walk away. I can hear Gui cry over Prince and I look over my shoulder too see them. Gui is being restrained by his teammates and he is struggling to get lose to attack me. I only laugh more at the sight. As I later disappear into the shadows, only my insane laughter remains, echoing between the walls of the clearing.

I can hear Garel land beside me. "Should you really accept him as a student?" He asks me with his deep growling voice. I only snort in amusement. "It can be fun to see how it goes. Where were you anyway?" Garel just closes his eyes and grins, meaning 'nowhere you should know about' I let out a loud sight in content. I get to kill a lot of monsters and also kill Prince atop of that. Sure my fame has gone down a little, but who cares. I enjoyed myself.

I am now back in star city inside a café, drinking a cup of bitter tea and eating some dangos. I really don't feel to do anything for a change. I usually want to kill monsters or take on different missions or just train my fighting skills in a clearing.

And as usual, a group of girls are watching me as I eat. All of them have a deep blush on their faces and hearts in their eyes. All the time I even glance towards them, they get all giggling and nervous. It gets really annoying…

Garel is usually glaring at all the female players, but this time he is off to do something else. I wonder what he is doing… It isn't like him to disappear like that two times in a row, maybe he is doing something he doesn't want me to know about. Hmm… I doubt that… But it can be a possibility…

Ever since I got Garel, we've been almost inseparable. We have so much in common and yet, we are so different. We know what the other is thinking just by making eye contact, something I was not able to do with anyone else in my whole life. He also helps me a lot when 'that' happens.

I was half trough my third dango stick when I get 'that' feeling again. I growl in annoyance, why does it have to happen now when I am relaxing?

I quickly pay my bill and walk out from the café. After I turned a corner I began to run as fast as I can towards the forest. The feeling is getting bigger and bigger for each second that passes by; I have to hurry so that no one else will be able to see me. It's no use to use my powers in this situation; it will only make it worse than it already is.

I am getting closer to the cave I found in the forest some time ago. It is surrounded with huge rock walls so no one has been here except for me and Garel.

I run into the darkness and the only thing that shows that someone is in there is the faint screams in pain and a slowly growing blood pool showing in the opening of the cave.

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><p>Ooh~! A cliffhanger! My first i think. ^^<p>

Heng Shi: Why the hell did you have to tell about that? That's private!

But, I have to tell the readers about you more, so it has to be personal. And while you where stuck in the black hole, I revealed more of your secrets.

Heng Shi: -Reads the later chapters his killer intent rising-

Hehehe… You are my character, so I decide what I will reveal and not reveal. And besides, I didn't tell them why you acted like this. ^^

Heng Shi: -Gives me a hateful glare- I really hate you, you know that?

-Pats Heng Shi on his shoulder- I know. Anyway, see you next time! And review~! ^^ Oh, by the way. I don't know what i should call this chapter, any suggestions? (sp?) :/


	17. My precious memory

Hi~! I'm back~! ^^ And I have a very happy Heng Shi here with me!

Heng Shi: -shaking in anger- Me? Happy? You maybe want me to be happy, but I'm not.

-Dramatic pause-

Heng Shi: -Struggles against the ropes- Because you tied me to a chair again! And even bolted it into the floor!

-Gives Heng Shi a nasty glare- I had to. You were going to go and search for SeaDevil.

Heng Shi: -grumbles curses under his breath- I don't want to be here. Why did I even want to turn back the time to come here again?

-Smiles sweetly and hugs Heng Shi from behind- It's because you wanted to see me again, right?

Heng Shi: -snorts- Yea, you wish. I would rather be paired up with Jing then with you.

-Smiles evilly- That can be arranged you know…

Heng Shi: -Tenses up- No way in hell you will do that…

-Shrugs- Yea, you're right. I wouldn't do that to you.

Heng Shi: -relaxes a bit- And why did you use a Garel POV in this chapter? I thought that you were only going to use my POV.

Well, Garel must have the spotlight sometime. And this way, I can tell my readers what happened to you in that cave before.

Heng Shi: -sends me a nasty glare- I told you that was private.

-Sweat drop- Sorry, but I have already told A so I have to tell B. This chapter will begin in Garel POV and then become Heng Shi POV when he logs out. If you have read 'Legend of the assassin' you know that he spent some time with Bolin instead of Sabre. Bolin gets loose on a killing spree and when he sees his bloodied hands, he just breakes up and want to cry. This chapter will start from there. Enjoy~! ^^

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><p><strong>Garel POV<strong>

That boy is breaking up, just because of a little blood on his hands. And who is An? Is that the little brat that Sabre talked about, the one that he saved from the phoenix? This guy must really care about him…

I stand up and nudge the celestial with my head. He looks up into my red eyes from his 'almost crying position' from the ground.

"I have to go back now, or else Sabre will be suspicious. Give me some of the loot that will make him believe I only killed monsters."

He nods slowly, sits up straight and gives me some of the loot with a dead look on his face. I put the loot inside the bag that Sabre have gotten for me and nods good bye to Bolin.

"This won't happen again, I assure you. This was only a one time experience. Next time we meet, we might be enemies."

With that, I lift into the air to look for my master.

I am beginning to become anxious, Sabre isn't at the café that I left him in. He wouldn't have left the café without me knowing where he is. I walk through the streets of star city, looking inside every store and ally for him. But I can't find him anywhere. Some people think that I am an abandoned pet and ask me many times if I want to become theirs. I only shoot some red flames at them in reply.

"Hey, isn't that Sabres dragon?" I can hear a familiar voice say. I turn around to see Odd Squad staring at me. I turn my back to them and continue my search, but of course they follow me.

"Your name is Garel, right?" Prince asks me in a polite tone. I snort out some red flames trough my nose and continue to look around.

Prince becomes a little bit nervous. "I take that as a yes. Do you know where Sabre is? Or maybe the celestial that I saw you with before? I really want to talk to one of them."

I give Prince a nasty glare. Even though I only reach up to his knees, he seems to shrink a little bit in fear.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I am looking for him. I left him for a while and now he is gone." I growl at him. He seems quite surprised with my answer.

I freeze, my eyes widening a little bit in horror. Don't tell me that 'that' happened again. A nagging feeling tells me that I am right with my suspicion and I quickly turn around to run towards the forest.

"Garel, wait!" I can hear Prince scream behind me. He screams something else, but I am now flying at full speed towards our cave with the wind helping my speed. I don't care what Prince said to me, the only thing I care about now is reaching Sabre.

Soon, I can feel the smell of blood. The sweet blood sent from Sabre.

I clench my teeth in anger. Why does this have to happen when I spend a little time with someone else then Sabre? And why does this even happen in the game? It should only happen in reality.

_Flashback_

"_Garel, I have to tell you something…" Sabre says to me in a stern voice. I lift my head a little to show that I am listening._

_We are right now in our cave, healing up a little before going off to slay monsters again. Sabre has never been as serious as he is right now._

"_I will soon have my symptoms and I don't know if it effects me in the game or not. These symptoms are connected to my necklace and since I have my necklace in the game it might happen here. I just want you to be prepared before it happens so that you won't panic or anything."_

_I stare at him in confusion and nod to him to continue._

"_This is what will happen…"_

_End flashback_

I fly into the stone clearing where we found the cave before and see a pool of blood in the opening of the cave. A strange feeling clenches my dragon heart. Is it worry? Is it fright? Is it guilt? I don't know but what I do know is that Sabre needs me.

I quickly rush into the cave and see Sabre leaning against the stone wall, panting in pain and clenching his heart. His pained yellow eyes stare at me when I run over to his side. I look at his bloodied hand; 'it' is still bleeding. I lower my gaze to the ground in shame. Sabre has trusted me with his biggest secret, but I wasn't there by his side when 'that' feeling appeared. Instead I decided to know Bolin a little bit more just because I was bored. I don't feel like a traitor for socialising with him, everyone must know their enemy, but I feel like a traitor for not being by Sabres side.

I shoot some flames at the pile of wood in the middle of the cave to be able to see clearly. Sabres red shirt and black pants are drenched in his own blood. He managed to take off the jacket before it became too serious, but it still has a few stains as well. He also took off all his accessories and his gloves before pressing his hands to his chest. He has managed to save some of his clothes without my help, that's good.

After I have analysed his condition, I immediately get to work.

I rip off his shirt and pull his hands away to look at his chest. I winch, this looks bad. The skin over his heart has turned black and is leaking blood. The black area is slowly growing bigger and a lot of the skin on his chest has turned grey. The grey area covers more then half of his chest and is slowly stretching up towards his neck and navel. I look at the back to see that the grey area has almost reached his spine.

I let out a small whimpering sound; this is much worse then the last times. I look into Sabres eyes and he nods weakly and clenches his hands in his now red stained pants. He already knows how bad it is and is ready for the pain I will have to cause him.

I nod in return and blow some fire at my claws, making them glow red with heat. I put my other claw on Sabres chest to hold him still and press my blazing hot claws over his heart on the black area.

Sabre lets out a loud scream and launch forward in reflex, but I press him against the stone wall to hold him still. I slowly move my claws in circles over the wound, Sabre screams even more. The bleeding is slowly coming to a stop as I come closer to the centre of the hole.

When I am at the centre, the bleeding stops and I remove my hot claws. The grey skin stays where it is, but the black skin is soon vanishing. I step away from Sabre to let him breath properly. He spits out a little blood and mutters curses under his breath. Something like 'Mother fuck that hurts… It hurt more then the last fucking time…'

I sight in relief; he is alright if he curses. That is something I have figured out during the time I have been Sabres pet. Or more like a companion, he let me do whatever I want. If my master would have been a control freak and ordering me around all the time, I would have left him. Lucky for me that I got Sabre instead of some other idiot.

"Where were you before Garel?" Sabres raspy voice brings me out from my thoughts. I look into his yellow eyes; they have a kind of curious glint behind the pain. I open my bag with my tail and let the loot fall to the floor.

"I was bored so I just wandered around in the forest for a while, then I rested a bit under a tree and I killed some monsters. When I came back to the café and saw that you were gone, I began searching through the town. I got distracted by Odd Squad and when I realised what happened, I came rushing here." I replied in guilt. I don't like to lie to him, but I have to in order for him to still trust me. It won't happen again, so why bother.

Sabre nods tiredly and closes his eyes. "I would have done the same." I walk over to his side and lie down. I look up at my master in worry. "You should rest a bit before you log out. And you really should kill someone soon. You said it yourself that it this thing is dangerous if you delay it any longer. You will soon not be able to even move if the grey area reaches your spine."

Sabre opens one of his eyes to give me a tired glance, saying 'I know but I can't do much about it'. I cock my head to the side in confusion. Sabre sights and closes his eye again. "It isn't easy to find someone that you can kill anymore. Before, you could just find someone suspicious and kill that person but today people have a lot of connections to each other. If I kill the wrong person, I can be found the next morning and then I would be killed for being an assassin. Some people even have connections to the police or FBI somehow, that's why I wanted some advice from a special someone."

I can suddenly feel a wave of killing intent erupting from Sabre. I instinctively lean back a little from him. "It is the person I hate the most, but I have no choice but to work together with her. Once every month, she goes on a so called mission where she tries to convince different important persons to give her money for our school. Some people want to kill her and that's where I come in. I have to be her guard. It's angering me beyond my limits."

I let out a deep sight. He really can't socialise with people without hating them… At least he will be able to kill every month with her help. No matter how much he hates her.

Sabre suddenly groans in irritation and I give him a questioning glance. "Stupid alarm clock… Waking me up just for the stupid school…" He mutters angrily. I stand up, put the loot and Sabres accessories into my bag and walk towards the door.

"I will get you a new shirt and pants while you are gone." I say and walk outside. I can hear Sabre say a soft 'thanks' before he logs out. I sight tiredly and lie down in the shadow to take a nap.

**Heng Shi POV**

I wake up from my bed and turn off my alarm clock. I feel drained after all the pain I experienced before. That happens all the time, but this is the first time it happens before school and not after.

I slowly rise from my bed and stumble across the room to my mirror. I take a few deep breaths before looking at my reflection. Even though I don't bleed in reality, I still get the grey mark. You can clearly see a bit of the grey mark on my neck, but I can easily cover it up with a scarf or some bandages.

I slowly make my way to the kitchen to make a quick breakfast and after breakfast I just put on my school uniform, bandage my neck and go to school. I don't even have the power to do my daily exercise, that's how drained I am.

I succeed to walk straight but I am too tired to put on my face mask as I walk into the school grounds. A lot of people cast me questioning glances as I walk through the corridor. My face is completely blank from tiredness.

The former captain of the karate club suddenly stands in front of me. (Former because I gained that title immediately when I stepped into the karate club for the first time.) I manage to notice him and stop right in front of him, looking straight at his neck.

"Move out of the way." I mutter darkly to him. I know that he heard me, but he still have to mock me despite my bad mood. "Huh? What was that? I couldn't hear you from down there shorty."

Because of me being tired, I easily loose my temper. So I punch him in the jaw, making him fly up a little and land hard on the floor. I glare coldly down at him, making him shiver in fear.

"You heard me. I will not accept any fights or anything that annoys me today. I have slept very badly and I am simply not in the mood." With that, I step on him and proceed to walk to my class. A stunned silence covers the corridor as I walk away. I can hear the girls whisper 'Heng Ru Shi is soooo cool…' and the guys whisper 'Man, I don't want to be on his bad side today…' to each other. I simply ignore it and focus more on walking straight. And that is a hard task itself.

I am now sitting in my first class, art. I am sitting furthest away from the teacher, not listening to Mr. Hathaway but only staring blankly forward. I meditate inside of my head to regain some of my energy, but it doesn't work as well as it used to more then a month ago.

"Heng Ru Shi, are you even listening to what I am saying?" Mr. Hathaway calls to me, sending me out of my daze. I stare at my teacher and shake my head, forcing a tired smile. "I'm sorry, but I haven't. I haven't slept very well so I am really tired. I can barely walk straight." My teacher looks at me in concern.

"Maybe you should take today off then; since it is winter break you only have two lessons today so you really shouldn't push yourself." At this I smile a true smile.

"I can't miss art, it's my favourite lesson. I have always loved art since I was little." That is true. When I was with my mother we painted and made sculptures, and when I grew up I began to like to pain walls or floors in my victims blood. When I was an assassin, I always painted something with my victim's blood. It was my signature that it was me that killed the person, a drawing in blood next to the dead body.

Mr. Hathaway gives me a warm smile. "I just gave you all a task to make something that you like the most. Like some beautiful memory or just a thing that you like. I give you 10 minutes to think over what to do and those 10 minutes starts… Now."

Immediately after he says 'Now' everyone in the classroom begins to talk to each other. After thinking about my mother, I already know what to do. So I stand up and walk towards all the painting equipment and pick different kinds of pencils, colour pencils in all the colours that I need for the drawing, an A3 paper and a rubber. Then I walk back to my place and start sketching.

I don't notice the people around me stop talking and glance at me for a moment. I picture my happiest memory inside my head and I can't help but to smile softly while my pen moves across the paper swiftly but steady.

Right now, everybody looks at me with admiration or pure awe. Because my expression is very soft and gentle as I draw. An expression I have never shown in public, not even to Gin that I considered as my Grandpa before. But I can't help it, when I think of this memory I feel really happy.

I don't even notice when Mr. Hathaway claps his hands and tell the others to begin with their work. I am too engrossed in my work to even notice all the girls staring at me with hearts as eyes.

I soon change pen to draw the contours and then I erase the pencil lines and change pen again to draw the details. After that is done, I begin to colour the drawing. All the while as I draw the picture, I wear the soft expression on my face.

When the drawing is finally done, I lean back in my chair to study my work. It looks very real, like I am at the same place once again.

The drawing is of when I, my mom and my dad are going on a picnic in the middle of the summer. I am about 8 years that time and my dad and I are playing in the sun while my mom sits under the shadow of a tree watching us. My dad holds me in a playful strangle grip and rubs my white spiky hair with his big fist. I hold onto my dads arm and has one of my eyes closed. My dad has lifted me into the air, so my feet are kicking in the air. My mother is packing up our picnic and laugh at us, her beautiful white hair blowing in the wind and her blue eyes looking warmly at us. My father has his dark blue hair in his usual loose ponytail, his bangs framing his slightly tanned face and his glasses almost slipping off his nose. His yellow eyes are a little bit narrowed in his laughter as well as my own visible yellow eye. We are in our semester clearing where only one big oak tree stands in the middle of it, an old oak tree that shares all of our happy memories. I often climbed up in the tree to just lie there and think and my dad usually joined me to take a nap. The sky is bright and blue and some of the sunlight is shown to make it even more realistic. The mood is happy and playful, just like my life was back together with my parents.

I can hear a click from behind me as someone takes a picture of my drawing. I turn around slowly, my happy mood destroyed by the one taking a picture of my memory.

Behind me stands almost everyone with their mobile or camera ready to take a picture of my drawing. I snatch the camera from the person taking the first picture and crush it with my hands. Everyone seems to tense up as I drop the remains of the camera on the floor. I give the other persons a hard glare.

"No one takes a picture of my memories. If someone even dares to do just that, the devise will be destroyed like that camera." All the persons with mobiles quickly put their phones away, but the others with cameras still have them pointed to my drawing on the table. I can hear a click when someone takes a picture and I immediately appear in front of the person and destroy its camera much like the last one. I snort in annoyance.

"When I am tired, I often get grumpy and you all just destroyed my good mood by trying to take pictures of my memory. I am serious when I mean that I will destroy every devise in this room to keep this memory to be shown to other people I don't know." I can hear another click and once again a destroyed camera lies on the floor.

"Remember this; I am not the karate captain for nothing. And if I see or hear anyone talking about my drawing that it is on that site or something like that, I will track you down and kill you. Ok maybe not kill you, but destroy your things. This memory is the one most precious to me and I will not allow anyone else to see it." A huge killer intent surrounds me and everyone backs away from me, not wanting to anger me any further.

The art class sure has been interesting for the other students, they have seen two completely different sides of me today. A very soft and happy side and a completely pissed off side of me has been shown just over a drawing. Every person in this room thinks the same thing right now. "Hope he doesn't sleep badly again. His angry side is really frightening, and all this just because of a drawing."

I pick up my drawing and walk over to the shocked teacher. I am still in a bad mood so he becomes a little nervous. I hand him my drawing of my memory and he immediately brightens up.

"This drawing is amazing Heng Ru Shi! The happiness is shining through the whole picture and such details. You are an amazing artist; you can probably live on your drawing in the future." I grumble a 'thanks', takes back the picture from my teacher and looks back to my classmates with an angry glare. They all swallow in fear.

"Remember what I said. This is my most important memory and I will not allow any of you to even speak of it. If you even utter a single description of my drawing, I will know it." And with that, I walk out from the classroom since it is only 15 minutes left of class.

* * *

><p>Yay~! I looove your drawing Heng Shi~! ^^ It's so adorable!<p>

Heng Shi: -glares at me- Will you make any of the students in the class speak of my drawing?

Nope, I won't. But I will always think of this drawing, it's so cute! ^^

Heng Shi: -sight- Since that crazy girl is being a fangirl over my drawing; I will just announce that this chapter was just a filler chapter. Something exciting will happen in the next chapter… Exciting for me that is…

Bye everyone~! See you soon and review~! ^^ -squeal- Heng Shi is so cute!

Heng Shi: -heavy sight-

Oh! I almost forgot! :o If you like Naruto, or you know someone that likes Naruto, read my other story **Blank mind**. I still haven't gotten any reviewers or 'story has become one of someone's favorite'. And i have already written 4 chapters! T-T I know that i have talked about this story before, but i really want to know what other people think of it. ^^


	18. Finally a mission!

Hi everyone! Did you like my filler chapter? I sure did! I can't stop thinking about the cute drawing! Kawaii~! -^_^-

Heng Shi: -sigh- You're still gawking over that? Seriously, get a grip… And untie me while you're at it…

-Gives Heng Shi evil glare- Hell no I won't, you will sit there for all eternity! Muahahahaha! –Lightning cracking in the background and I am laughing crazily with my hands in the air-

Heng Shi: … Why did you have to be my author? Couldn't I have gotten someone that is somewhat sane? And are you bipolar?

-Makes a cute face with flowers and pretty sparkles dancing around my face- Now what makes you think that? I'm not that insane, am I? –Becomes all depressed and begin to grow mushrooms in a corner- Is it something wrong with me then? Most people that makes stories on this site acts like this… At least the ones that I have read…

Heng Shi: -Hangs his head in defeat- That proves it… If almost everyone acts like you do, I might as well stay as your character…

Yay! Heng Shi will stay! Meatbun-chan is happy now! Meatbun-chan has to go and tell Vampie-chan! (AnimeVamp1997) –Runs off-

Heng Shi: … Is it only me or does that speech reminds me of someone from another manga? A very hyper person… -sigh- Just read the story already…

* * *

><p>I am walking quickly down the corridor towards the student council. The classes have ended some time ago and there is no one here anymore, except for 'her' and the other members of the student council. I have carefully placed my drawing in my backpack, but I had to fold it a little in order for to it fit.<p>

This mission that she talked about before when we made our deal, it has to happen today. I don't care if I have to force her to it, but I will make sure that I kill something this evening. Or else 'that' will happen sooner then the last time. And then I will become immobile.

My heavy footsteps are echoing in the empty hallway and I am passing door after door on my way to my destination. When I am close, I sense that there is no one else in the council room except for Jing and her butler. So I just kick up the door and stomp over to her desk. I slam my hands hard against the fine, black wood and glare at the girl in front of me with so much hatred and frustration so fierce that it can burn down a mansion.

"When the hell are we leaving?" I growl at her in frustration. She finally stops looking at her papers to look at me. I lean a little over the table as she calmly puts her pen down and clasps her hands together in front of her mouth. "I can't take this anymore." For more emphasis in my words, I slam my fist hard against the table which makes a few papers fall to the floor from its stack. This only makes her quirk her eyebrow in amusement.

Her blood red eyes are calm, like she was expecting me to come, as she watches the papers slowly drift to the ground. She must have sensed my presence when I approached the door before. She sighs in mock sadness and shakes her head with a smile. "How many times do I have to tell you not to bark, dog boy?"

In an instant, I have her pinned against the wall next to the large window by her neck. Her eyes seem to widen a little bit in surprise, but her face remains blank. The butler is standing behind me ready to attack, but he knows that I need Jing and wouldn't kill her yet so he stands still.

"Listen to me, right now is not the best time to be mocking me. You have no idea what I can do to you in the sate that I am in right now." I hiss in her ear in anger. "Maybe I should just let myself loose control, kill you and every single person that you find dear. But I need you for my own reasons, and it is very hard to hold myself back with your attitude."

After a moment of silence Jing begins to chuckle, then outright laughing. Why is she laughing all of a sudden?

She brings her hand to her mouth to stifle the laughter. "You really are an idiot… You realize you just contradicted everything you just said right?" I give her a hard glare when a mocking smile appears on her face.

"Mutt."

Only one word can make me furious, it's pathetic. But I can't help it, this girl pisses me off. I tighten my hold on her neck and I begin to shake in anger when she still keeps that stupid smile on her face.

I grit my teeth and slowly close my eyes trying to gain calm. She only wants me to get angry, she wants me to amuse her with my anger. Why she thinks it is amusing to see me angry I will never know, but I will not give her what she wants.

I slowly loosen my grip on her neck as I think of things I can do if I wait. Like killing, my sword hasn't tasted blood for a while. I would also get rid of all this pain my 'disease' cause me.

I slowly open my eyes to look at Jing's disappointed face; it makes me happy that I haven't reacted as she wanted. My anger isn't completely gone, but I am now able to surpress it behind my face mask.

I step away from her and calmly walk over to the opposite wall to face her with a smirk plastered on my face. "Call on your other slaves so that we can go on this mission already. I'm getting impatient, so you better act fast before something happens."

Jing calmly walk back to her chair and sit down. Without breaking my eye contact, she says to her butler. "Go and get the others, we will depart soon." He bows to his 'princess' and disappears.

Not soon after he left he came back with four other people. "Introduce yourselves." Jing orders them. A male teenager stepped forward at once.  
>"My name is Chang Ji. I am the vice-president."<br>He is tall, with short brown hair and sharp golden brown eyes. His uniform is clean and wrinkle free. He folds his arms across his chest and studies me. I narrow my eyes in return.  
>"It would be nice to get along with you." He says blandly. I just snort disapprovingly as reply, he must be that kind of guy who is very quiet and only speaks when spoken to. He also seems like that kind of guy who thinks he is so much better then everyone else, and I hate that.<p>

After him a willowy boy the same height as the one before steps forward and places an arm on Chang's shoulder. His every movement is graceful and a smooth smile curved his lips.  
>"I would be Enlai Jin, and I am the historian. I record everything that happens~!"<br>He has dark golden long blond hair and cheerful hazel eyes. His hair is straight but slightly shaggy, and piled onto his shoulders a few times before hanging down between his shoulder blades. His uniform jacket is open wide and the top few buttons of his shirt are unbuttoned. His free hand was stuffed into his pants pocket as he smiled at me. I just give him a glare but he doesn't seem faced by it. I don't know what I should think about this guy, he seems like the playboy type to me. Much like Kain in my former organisation, he also had those smooth movements and that kind of aura Enlai is emitting.

A girl steps forward next. The only thing that I can think when I look at her is 'blue'. Her dyed electric blue hair is curled into poofy waves around her head and she wears copious amounts of makeup on her face. She has bright green eyes that are surrounded by dark blue eye shadow and her large lips are covered in baby blue lipstick. Her skirt is cut short, halfway to her thighs. Striped baby blue and white stockings are covering her legs with matching fingerless gloved on her hands. She flipps her hair and smirks at me.

"Jiao Lei, Webmaster. I take care of the student council website, public and private." I have heard of their website but I have never bothered to look at it. She seems to be waiting for my reaction, she probably thinks that I will gawk or something just because she created their website. I have no idea what their website is like and I don't plan on finding out either. She seems like that kind of person who is self-centred, always talking and thinking about herself and thinking that all she does is world important for everyone to worship her for. So instead of gawking like she wants to, I just give her a blank stare and say in a bored tone. "Is that really something to be proud of?"

She gawks at my reply and another girl stepped forward before anything else happens. She has the same red hair as that little girl with the glasses that let me inside the student council the first time, though her hair is much brighter and it goes down to the small of her back. It seems like they are sisters, they have some resembles to each other. She too wears glasses like the little girl, but they are rectangular. Sharp bright green eyes gazes down on me through her glasses. "I am Hong Hua, the secretary. I take care of the agenda and record all meetings." She says shortly. I scrawl in annoyance, she doesn't seem shy like her younger sister but she still seems polite. I don't like polite people, so naturally I hate her already.

After Hong's introduction, Jiao finally snaps out of her gawking gaze and turns towards Jing, a little mad I might add. She points an accusing finger in my direction and asks Jing angrily. "Who is this guy?"

Jing slowly stands up from her chair and scan over her 'crew' as I will now call them. She locks her gaze with Jiao. "This is our new recruit, Heng Ru Shi. A former assassin." The other members of the 'crew' stares at me in surprise and disbelief, like they can't picture me as an assassin. I glare angrily at the smirking Jing, she can't just go around and tell everyone what I worked with, that is something I will reveal if I want to.

Enlai is the first to speak after hearing that I am a former assassin. "An assassin? No way, but he's so short and so kind." The next second, I have him pinned against the wall, much like I have done to Jing a few moments ago. His eyes widen in surprise at my speed and I growl in anger. "Don't you dare call me 'kind' again or it will be the death of you." I spit out every word with venom, but the word 'kind' hurt my throat to even say it. I drop him and the moment he hits the ground I am already at the door.

"Let's get going already." I hiss at Jing and I stomp out from the door. I can hear her chuckle a little inside the room but I can soon hear other people's footsteps following me out.

We have finally arrived at our destination, all of my 'comrades' annoyed me to no end during the trip. Jiao kept talking about herself the whole trip and called me different insulting names; Enlai was trying to make me teach him my 'trick', as he called it, for him to become popular with the girls. Chang annoyed me with his mere presence and Hong was later screaming at Jiao and Enlai to shut up which also annoyed me. After Hong screamed at them, they became quiet but soon started the whole procedure over again.

They even went as far that I had to bite my tongue to distract myself with the taste of blood. Pain can't distract me, but blood sure can. My own blood is also very sweet in my opinion even though it has a darker tone then normal blood.

Jing is the first to step out from the limousine together with her precious blond butler. But me and the 'crew' stay inside the car, I look at the big white mansion. The client's house is very large, very fitting for a rich family. Big gates, big garden, fountains, lots of trees, big doors and windows and a very big white house. Yep, typical rich family house, it makes me want to burn it down.

Jing and the blond walk up to the gate in view of the cameras to see them, Gao talks into a speaker to announce our appearance and they open the gates for us. Jing and Gao step inside the car again and the driver drives us to the front of the house. We are soon being escorted by one of the maids to where we will hold our meeting.

We pass hallway after hallway with the same boring red carpet floor, marble walls and glass lamps hanging in the roof. I only stare straight ahead, bored out of my mind the whole way. I can tell that the others part of the 'crew' casts glances at me now and then but I ignore it, I have no intention on befriending anyone.

I sight in relief as we finally reach the very back of the house where the maid stops in front of a door on the far side of the long hallway. There are no windows in this area, only the single door leading to the meeting room.

I smirk a little; they don't want to take any chances with having a meeting with windows. It's like they don't want us to be able to get out from the building, which means… I grin evilly at the thought. They want to kill us.

The maid knocks on the wooden door softly. A muffled 'come in' can be heard on the other side of the door and the maid opens the door for us.

Jing walks in first with Gao and the other follow after her in a line. Jing stops in front of a man in his late forties that is standing in front of a desk at the far end of the room.

The 'crew' form a protecting half circle around her. I snort in annoyance, there is no way I will join on that stupid formation. I walk over to the closest wall and lean against it with my hands lazily in my pockets. I can see in the corner of my eye that the man is watching me with some kind of shock, so I drift my eyes over to him to analyze him.

He has blond hair and green-blue eyes. His clothing attire looks wealthy with his black coat lined with gold as well as his black pants. He has a golden shirt underneath his coat and a wealthy golden watch on his right arm, he has a lot of money that's for sure.

"Hello again, Mr. Feng." She greets him. "It is nice to see you well and alive once again Miss Jing." He replies.

A smirk flashes across Jings lips before vanishing, it seems like Mr. Feng didn't notice her smirk. It is as if she can see through him and sees that he is truly disappointed that she is alive. Of course I can see through his lies too, my assassin training hasn't been for nothing.

"Would you like to sit down?" He asks Jing, gesturing to the chair behind him that is placed in front of his desk. Jing nods and Mr. Feng sits down behind his desk.

"Now to get down to business. As I asked the last time we met, would you like to support our school? There are many benefits to supporting us as you already know." Jing says to him straight forward. I smirk at Mr. Fengs surprised look but then he shakes his head in fake sadness.

"Just as I said in response to the last time we met, I cannot. Despite the wealth you see in this house, I am in no financial condition to support you. My investments in certain business ventures have turned for the worse, and I have to support my family as well." He says his posture is starting to become relaxed and content. It's obvious that he lies, if he can have so many maids as we saw before he can surely support our school.  
>Jing nods in fake sympathy.<p>

I can feel someone approach me slowly to my left, and more is coming. The strange thing is that the presences are inside of the walls. I step away from the wall and begin to walk towards the far side of the room where Mr. Feng is sitting in his chair. He seems more relaxed now then ever during this whole meeting and I know exactly why.

"That is quite unfortunate. However, your connections and involvment in certain places have become necessary to the school, so I will ask you again, will you support the school?" Jing asks him again and looks at him straight in the eye. He smiles and becomes even more relaxed, almost slumping in his chair.

All of the maids don't notice me as I pass them towards their master, and neither does the master himself. He just continues to speak in his overly friendly tone with Jing

"I'm very sorry, but I'm afraid to say that due to lesser money, I am not able to support your income. It has been a nice chat, Miss Jing"

Jing nods her head in understanding and is about to stand up. But one of the maids press a button on a remote and immediately metal wires shoot out from the chair and bind Jing do that she is unable to move from her seat. The assassins are now beginning to fill the room through the breakable glass in the roof

Mr. Feng erupts into a fit of crazy laughter but immediately stops when he feels the cool metal of my hidden knife against his throat. He gazes into my blood thirsty eyes with fear and recognition, like he knows who I am.

He is about to say something, but I slam my hand over his mouth before he is able to utter a word. The maids seem to be frozen in fear or shock over the amount of blood lust I'm emitting.

A wicked grin spreads across my face as I gaze at the terrified man. The man begins to struggle to remove my hand when he realises that I'm draining his only source of life from him. I think he knows it because of my glowing necklace. No one else then he sees my necklace right now since I have my back turned to the rest of Jing's 'crew'.

"Did you know that I would be allowed to kill you if you didn't want to support our school?" My voice is filled with longing as I end my question with a crazy snigger.

He is screaming into my hand as he struggles even more, after two seconds of draining his energy I blow up his head. Blood and brain leftovers splatter over me and his former chair.

The explosion of the family father seems to bring every normal person from their shock and they scream in horror. I laugh quietly; my shoulders shaking as I slowly unsheathe my sword from its holster on my back underneath my school jacket.

"Kill everyone, right?" I hiss to Jing who has now removed her metal bindings. I can hear her chuckle a little before she answers.

"Have fun, boy."

Under different circumstances, I would become angry for her calling me boy, but now when I get to kill I'm like a child during Christmas.

I unsheathe my sword completely and stroke its blade softly, waking it from its slumber. I turn first to all the maids that are gathered together in a corner, shaking in fear. I grin wickedly and appear before them in a second and slash all of them before anyone can scream.

My sword pulses red and swallows all the blood and time energy offered to it and gives the time energy to me. I turn my gaze upwards to the hole in the roof where the assassins are now dropping down from it. Now that I have regained time energy I feel much stronger, so the about 20 assassins seems like nothing to me right now.

I jump up into the air and slice my sword through the first assassin killing him immediately; four assassins attack me from all sides at once when I land on my feet. I sidestep one sword and block the other three swords with my own. I kick the person behind me, affectively sucking up all his time energy all at once so that he dies before he even hits the floor.

I duck beneath the other three swords and cut their legs. Once again, the sword pulses red as it gives itself blood and I time energy. The assassins fall to the floor, dead by only a cut in the leg.

"Wha-what is he?" One of the assassins whisper to his comrades. I chuckle darkly as I stand up; I look hungrily at the other assassins in the room.

"I'm your worst nightmare." I hiss before I go on a killing spree.

"Hahahahaha! This feels great! I haven't done this for a while! It's beautiful!" I scream over the noise of the fire. We have killed every single person in the whole mansion in just ten minutes and I am now watching it burn down.

After my little killing performance, no one has even spoken to me yet. I didn't have to use my full power naturally, only about 35%.

I have twisted, jumped and sliced with my sword everywhere and all the while laughing in joy as I went on my killing spree. Just as I promised I became the assassins' nightmare. Garel has said to me that when I am going on a happy killing spree I look like a maniac, but he says it simply like this. 'When you kill it looks like you are consumed by malice.' And that is actually true fact only that I like blood more then people crying out in pain.

I hold up my sword in front of me, the image of a grinning me reflecting in the metal. "How did it feel, Siwang chumo?" (Death touch) I ask it softly. Siwang chumo pulses a soft 'good' in return, making me grin even more. I stroke my finger over its metal and it goes to sleep again. I put my sword on my back and turn around towards the limousine where the rest of the 'crew' is waiting for me; Jing gives me a calculating gaze, like she is trying to figure me out. I flash a grin at her before I walk inside the limousine.

Now to the next job.

* * *

><p>Oooh~! I love to write Heng Shi as a crazy maniac~! ^^<p>

Heng Shi: Shut up, I'm not crazy. I just have a bigger need to kill then most people."

Either way, you act like a maniac when you kill. You have to agree with that.

Heng Shi: …

Anyway I will see you soon, as soon as I can anyway… I really hate school sometimes… T-T Bye~! ^^


	19. Heng Shis' good day

Hi everyone~! I'm back with another chapter! ^^

I'm sorry if you got disappointed that the last chapter wasn't really a chapter, but I promise that it won't happen again! ^^

Heng Shi: And why the hell is this chapter so late? It has been two fucking months!

I'm sorry! -Goes off to sulk in a corner- At first I wasn't motivated to write, and then Vampie-chan's brother got sick…

Heng Shi: How the hell has that girl's brother got anything to do with your lateness?

Well, since her brother was so sick, I knew that she was really worried about him and I knew that if it had happened to my own brother, I wouldn't be in the mood to write fan fictions. And since we're working on our stories together, I had to wait until she was in a better mood. That's why.

Heng Shi: You still could have posted it… It was just one tiny flashback that was missing! And you could have added the flashback later!

You know that wouldn't work, because then no one would read that last flashback in its complete state, since it's not likely that anyone look up my story just to see if a tiny flashback had been added.

Heng Shi: Alright, alright. I get it! Now continue the story instead of talking rubbish.

That's a good idea. Now then, enjoy the long awaited chapter~! I hope this was worth waiting for! ^^

* * *

><p>When I log on into <em>Second Life<em>, half of the night has already passed. As always, Garel has killed some monsters while I was gone. I pull a little on my special gloves and motions for Garel to follow me; he raises an invisible eyebrow questioningly but follows me anyway. The reason for the raised eyebrow: my mood.

Because for the first time since I started playing _Second Life_, I'm happy when I log in.

You can't blame me for that – after all, I got to kill. Although, after the mission, the 'crew' started to ask me questions, which annoyed me a little; but I couldn't care less about that right now. Now that I am in _Second Life_, I just want to sit around and relax.

It takes a while to walk back to the city from my secret cave, but as we arrive at Star city, even more people than usual are staring at me. It's probably because I'm grinning happily as I walk through the streets, something that no one in the game has seen me do, not even Garel -at least not like this. There has always been a sadistic undertone as soon as I even got close to grinning like this.

I wonder what I should do… The dango café is almost always empty, so I could go there to eat some… or maybe I could look for Prince and have some fun sparring? No, I don't feel like it… Then the dango shop it is!

With that in mind, I begin to make my way towards my favourite shop, the people around me separating to give me some space.

"Bishie!" I can hear a girl scream to my right; I turn towards the noise only to find a deeply blushing girl with some guys standing around her. The girl is an elf with curled blonde hair, big lips and wide blue eyes. Any guy would probably consider this girl pretty, but I'm not 'any guy', so I just smirk and continue my walk towards the dango shop with Garel following close behind me.

I had just been walking for a few minutes when I feel someone run after me. It's probably that girl…

I grasp my sword, transform it into its pistol form and halt the blond elf's movements by placing the gun to her forehead. I give her a big grin, not removing the pistol from the shaking girl as the fanboys run towards me to help the girl.

"Perfect princess!" They all scream in worry. My grin widens a little at the mention of her name and I lean in a bit closer to her.

"Ooh~." I say in amusement, "Perfect princess, ey? Sure, you might be considered pretty, but do you really think this game is all about chasing after guys and making them like you? I really hate your type. Now, if you would just leave me alone to enjoy my good mood, I will spare your life."

With that, I remove my pistol from her forehead, turn it back to the heavy sword, place it on my back and turn away from the still trembling girl. I can hear the other girls around me cooing about how hot I am and blah, blah, blah. I can also hear someone scold 'Perfect princess' for confronting me; the same person also tells her that I'm not someone you want on your bad side since I could kill you in the blink of an eye.

I grin happily once again as I think back to when I killed all those people at the mansion and the car ride away from the mission, when the 'crew' asked their questions.

**Flashback**

_As soon as everyone were seated in the car, the people in Jing's 'crew' immediately begin to ruin my good mood. The same thing that happened on our way toward the mission starts up again now that we're heading back to the school and I can feel my cheerful mood slip further away for each word the idiots say…_

_When I start to twitch in anger, Jing, to my surprise, tells the others to keep quiet. When the car is silent for the first time in since it departed from the burning mansion, I begin to think back to my slaughter happily._

_I stare out at the dark night sky with a wide happy grin on my face. Aah~ the screams sounded so beautiful… The time energy that I got from the killing-spree has really powered me up, so the grey markings should have disappeared now._

_I can feel the eyes of everyone in the car on me as I rip the bandages off from my throat, but I don't care. I don't think that anything can ruin my mood right now…_

"_Hey, idiot! Why did you remove your bandages?"_

_Ok, maybe only a very irritable, blue, self-centred person. I glance at Jiao out of the corner of my eye, the big grin never leaving my face._

"_I just didn't need it anymore. What does it matter to you anyway?"_

_I can feel Jing become slightly interested, even though she pretends that she isn't. She must see this as a chance for her to figure me out, but I won't give her that opportunity._

_Jiao can't come up with a retort, so instead she just huffs angrily and turn her head away with her nose in the air. I snicker at her reaction and look out the window again, until another annoying person asks me a question._

"_By the way, you were a former assassin, right?" Enlai asks me curiously and leans a little closer. I sigh irritably and slowly turn my head to my right; he is sitting next to me, with a blank face._

"_Yes?" Enlai hesitates for a second, pondering if he should ask the question he wants to ask or not, before deciding to ask._

"_What made you leave your organisation? It can't be because you became bored, because you're crazy in blood."_

_I tense up a little when he mentions 'organisation' and I ask him back. "Why does it matter to you?"_

_That's when Jiao decides to be irritating once again as she snorts in amusement and a smirk stretches across her face. "Ooh? Got some kind of embarrassing secret, Shorty? Or are you just afraid to tell us about yourself?"_

_I give her a slight glare before I respond, my good mood not allowing me to do a full-fledged deathglare. "I got betrayed, that's what." Is the only thing I say before I once again turn towards the window._

"_Why are you so anti-social?" Another one asks. I turn to Hong and snort in amusement._

"_Why should I even be social, I don't need anyone. And besides, I don't socialise with irritating people."_

"_You're doing it right now." Chang points out from his spot next to Jing, who is still trying to look like she isn't interested in our conversation, while staring blankly at me. I let out a short mocking laugh and cross my arms over my chest._

"_Guess you're right. I was just in such a good mood that I didn't notice." I can see Jing send me a curious look at that._

"_Can you answer me one question? It's been bugging me for a long time.." Enlai says casually and my grin grows even wider, if possible._

"_Depends on what the question is…" I reply. Enlai becomes serious and for a moment I think that he is going to ask me about my 'trick' again, but his question surprises me._

"_How the hell can you be so fast?"_

_I decide to play innocent and clean my ear with my pinkie before I ask him in return: "What do you mean?" Hong decides to push the subject._

"_Back at the school, you caught Enlai's throat so fast that most of us didn't even see you. And also when you slaughtered all those people back at the house; I couldn't keep up with your speed. What is it that makes you so fast?"_

_I get a crazy look in my eyes as I stare at Hong. "That is something I'll never tell."_

**End Flashback**

After their little 'interrogation' the car had been quiet the whole way back to the school. I really hate them, but I guess that I'll be able to put up with their company in order to survive…

When I finally arrive at the dango place I take a look around the mostly empty shop. Or café to be more precise. I walk over to the counter where the usual red-haired, green-eyed NPC is standing, drying off some glasses. When she sees me, she begins to smile warmly and puts away the dried glass, only to begin drying off another shortly after.

"Hi there Sabre! Glad to see that you're in a good mood for once~!" The NPC says happily, I nod in agreement with a grin on my face.

"Yeah, something good happened, that's all…"

The NPC raises a questioning eyebrow, but in the end, she only shakes her head, puts away the glass she's been drying off and puts her hands on her hips. "The usual?" She asks me cheerfully. I only smirk in response and gives a short nod to the girl.

As soon as she disappeared to the back of the store, Garel begins to speak. "What happened today? You came here later than usual."

I glance at Garel out of the corner of my eye as I pull up the hem of my red t-shirt to show him that my grey markings are gone, he nods, understanding.

The red-haired NPC soon returns with a cup of tea and a plate with two sticks of dango on it. After she placed them on the counter in front of me, I give her three silver coins and move to sit outside and eat; Garel follows me.

After eating my dangos with all the girls in the vicinity fawning over me, I had nothing to do.

_I'm bored_, I thought. I could of course kill some monsters to lift my boredom, but I really don't feel like doing that today… And no, that isn't a sign that the world is about to end. It's just that I'm not in the mood; I got to kill real humans and that is enough for me. Killing one human is about as satisfying as killing three monsters, so right now, I don't feel like I have to kill anything.

Garel lifts his head a little to look at someone approaching us to my right. When I notice Garel's stare, I turn around myself to see who it is that's coming. When I see that it's Prince with a determined expression on his face plus his teammates and the Dark Phantom team, I smirk sinisterly.

I stand up from my seat, my smirk growing wider when I notice the leather bag Prince is holding in his hand. I raise an eyebrow at Garel, silent code for: 'You told him something?' Garel nods silently.

I sigh and scratch the back of my head tiredly before I fix my bored, yellow eyes on the white-haired elf in front of me. "What is it? It better not be something that ruins my good mood." I ask Prince in a bored manner, at which he blinks in confusion, surprise clearly visible on his face.

"You aren't going to attack me like you'd normally do?" I snicker evilly as he keeps silent and my eyes shine happily, making Prince a bit nervous.

"Let's just say that something really good happened in real life today…" I answer their silent question and I snicker a bit again before addressing the now sweating Prince. "So? What do you want?"

Lolidragon nudges Prince in his ribs to bring him out from his daze; jolted, Prince clears his throat before he throws the leather bag to me. I catch it with ease and open it to see its contents; at the bottom of the leather bag lays two big horns. I raise an eyebrow towards Prince, silently telling him to explain.

Prince red eyes shine with determination as he speaks. "You said to me before that if I defeat a certain monster, you might become my teacher. Does that prove what I've killed?"

I flash a big grin as I flip the bag upside-down; making the two horns fall to the ground. I grab my sword and change it into a black hammer.

"Wha-?"

That's the only thing Prince manages to say before I slam my hammer down hard onto the two horns, my blow creating a crater in the ground. When I lift my hammer away from the ground, the two horns don't even have a scratch from my hit. That means that they are real Minotaur horns. I change the hammer back into a heavy sword and put it on my back before looking up to meet Prince's shocked gaze. I smirk in return.

"Good work, a minotaur is hard to take down. Did you kill it alone?"

Prince throws a quick glance toward his team before he shakes his head.

"Not entirely, but I was the only one who attacked it." He answers. My smirk grows wider and I shrug my shoulders.

"Well… I'm not entirely sure if I should take you on as my student…" I muse smugly. At Prince's disappointed face, I point lazily towards the purple-haired bard. "I don't think that your little team-mate over there would like it."

Sure enough, the guy is glaring daggers at me. Since I killed Prince during our last encounter, I don't think that any of them like me very much except for Prince himself. I really don't know why he keeps insisting on being my student; there are a lot of other sword masters in this game, why not study under one of them? I really don't understand what he is thinking; I can kill him any time I want, and I'd take pleasure from it, too.

When I point at the angry bard, Prince turns around to look at him. "Gui, we already talked about this." He says with an emotion I can't really place, at which Gui shifts his gaze from me to Prince, his eyes softening.

"But Prince. He killed you. Why do you even want to be his stude-?"

"If you hate me so much, just try and kill me." Gui glares heatedly at me for interrupting him, but I just give him a cocky smirk in reply. "What? Are you afraid? You know that I can kill you all in just a matter of seconds if I wanted to."

At that, both teams tense up, knowing that it is true, but I just wave lazily with my eyes half-closed. "But I don't really feel like killing anything right now, so your lives are safe for the moment."

They begin to relax a little, but the magician from Dark Phantomsnorts disbelievingly. "Yeah, right. I will cast _Heavens Fury_ on you before you have the chance." He mumbles. I grin, taking his cockiness as a challenge and looks the magician in the eyes.

"What was that? You don't think that I can kill you?" I ask him mockingly, upon which the magician tenses up even more before he decides to play tough and takes a step forward.

"Yeah, that's right. You won't even be able to come close to me with my skill." He says confidently, while the swordsman in his team glares at the cocky fool.

"Oh, really?" I muse smugly before I quickly run up behind him, placing my katana against his throat before anyone can even notice what's going on. "Then how did I manage to come this close to you? To me, it looks like you're just playing though, and that those so-called skills of yours aren't really that much to brag about." I whisper menacingly in his ear.

His teammates stumble away from me in shock as the magician, known as Miwa, freezes in either shock or fear. I snicker at their reactions before I pull away from the frozen boy. I feel an arrow fly towards me from my right, aiming for my skull, but I easily tip my head a little bit backwards and avoid it. I lazily glance towards the glaring bard who is already preparing another arrow on his harp.

"Do you really need a reason like that to kill me? Because I sure don't need one when I kill people." I say lazily while Miwa takes a few steps away from me; Gui only glares even harder, if possible, at me.

"Are you a PK?"

I turn towards the scared little girl who is hiding behind the wolf priest with a raised eyebrow. "No." I answer simply before I turn around to walk away. Garel, as always, follow me. I then remember why Prince confronted me in the first place and stop in my tracks, asking Prince without turning around:

"Hey, Prince. How many days are there left until the finals?"

Instead of Prince answering, Lolidragon does. "It's in three days, why do you ask?" I can hear in her voice that she is both confused and suspicious at my question, but I ignore it and continue to walk. I open my chat and type in a message for Prince which says;

'If you want to be my student, be sure to be at that very dango shop tomorrow. Alone. I will start with the basics, but be prepared for a living hell. Remember, be alone.'

After I had sent the message and made sure that Prince had opened it, I jump up onto the roof of a building and start to run towards my secret cave, where I can be alone.

* * *

><p>"This will certainly be interesting…" I say to Garel once we've arrived at our cave. Garel just sighs and shakes his head in defeat.<p>

"Why do you even want to teach him? He's just a beginner with no experience at all when it comes to swordsmanship. Why train him when you won't gain anything in return?"

Garels' question makes me stop and think. He's right… Why do I want to train Prince? Is it because he amuses me? Or is it because I am beginning to grow soft towards people since I quit as an assassin?

I shake my head in frustration to get rid of those thoughts. _No, I'm not growing soft. I killed all those people without mercy or guilt back at the mansion._

But if I'm really not growing soft,then why haven't I killed Jing yet? Is it only because I need her to satisfy my curse? Or am I really growing soft? Maybe I am… Maybe that's why I told Jing what I did before when we got back to the school…

**Flashback**

"_Heng Ru Shi, can you stay for a moment? I have something important to talk to you about."_

_I turn around from where I was just about to exit the Student councilroom to face Jing, who has her back towards me. The other people from Jing's 'crew' exit the room one by one after having changed into their clean uniforms. Blood is very hard toget out of clothes, so instead of having to try to get the bloodstains out of our clothes,we get completely new uniforms from the council._

_I furrow my browns in frustration as I glare weakly at Jings' back, still not able to glare fully because of my good mood. "I really don't want to stay close to you longer than necessary, so make it quick." I say irritably. Jing only looks to the side towards her butler and say,_

"_Gao, can you bring me the folder?"_

_He nods obediently and walks over to one of the many file cabinets in this room to start searching for whatever file it isthat Jing speaks of. I lean against the wall furthest away from the black-haired girl and cross my arms over my chest. Jing herself walks over to her desk and sits down, her arms resting upon it._

_Just when I'm about to ask her why she wants me here, Gao walks over to Jing with a thick brown folder in his hands. Jing accepts the folder with a thankful nod and Gao walks behind the chair, to protect her if necessary._

_Jing opens the folder and spreads its contents on the desk in front of her. "I've found some interesting pictures that I want to ask you about."_

_I raise a suspicious eyebrow before I walk forward to look at the big bunt of papers that lies on her desk. The papers are laying upside-down so that I can't see what's on them without picking them up; I do just that and stare at the first picture in masked shock._

_I look at Jing's serious face with furrowed eyebrows in fake confusion. "Why do you want to show me some guy that looks like me?"_

_Jing narrows her eyes dangerously as she clasps her hands together in front of her face. "You might want to look at the other pictures as well; I think that you'll be able tosee a resemblance."_

_So she's figured me out, huh. I'm surprised that she was able to get this many pictures, because if these are what I think they are, they will all be very similar to each other and all of them should be classified, some of them not even saved on a computer…_

_I hid behind my face-mask, not letting my suspicion or apprehension show on my face as I skimmed through the pictures. Sure enough, she found them all. Even the original…_

_I gaze lazily at Jing and carefully hold the original up in front of me. "Mind telling me where you got this?"_

_Jing sits a little bit straigter in her chair and glares at me. "I will not answer anything - you will. What is the meaning behind all those pictures of you? The oldest are about four hundred years old, yet you don't seem to have aged at all. Because that is you. I can clearly see the resemblance between those pictures; just changing your hair colour and hairstyle can't fool me." _

_I snort in amusement and I raise a questioning eyebrow with a smirk. "Why do you think that I'll answer your question? Because I really don't have a reason to do so."_

_Jing keeps her eyes narrowed as she leans slightly forward. "Because Heng Ru Shi," She says mockingly, "You owe me."_

_I narrow my eyes at her, she's right, I DO owe her… That's what I hate about all this. I hate owing people favours, especially when the favour the other person is doing for me is saving my life… I wish I could contact someone else than her…_

_I use my time energy to erase the ink from all of the pictures except for the original before I place them upside-down on her desk. After that, I turn around and walk away,towards the door. When I reach it, I open it and look at Jing over my shoulder with a smirk._

"_If you're really that interested, think of my name." Is the only thing I say before I step out of __the room and close the door behind me. After that, __I walk home and log onto _Second Life_, already having forgotten about our little conversation._

**End Flashback**

Realizing that I hadn't answered Garel's question yet, I look down at him with furrowed eyebrows. "I don't really know, but his personality is familiar somehow… Maybe that's why, but I'm not sure… It's the same with that girl, Jing - Bolin here - it's almost as if she's acting like a person I really cared about. But I just can't figure out who it is she's acting like."

Garel nods and walk over to the cave opening to lie down; he motions for me to settle down next to him. I sit down and raise an eyebrow at him, seeing his serious expression.

"The only persons you ever cared about were your parents, correct?" I nod silently before Garel continues. "Then maybe their personalities resemble your parents'."

My eyes widen in realisation; now that I think about it, it's true. Both of them act similarly to how my parents would act if they were in the same situation. That must be why I find Prince interesting and why I can't bring myself to kill Jing in the real world where I know that she would cease to exist. So I'm not growing soft towards people, only towards those two…

This realization angers me, but at the same time, it makes me relieved that it's only those two that I'm growing soft towards. I would prefer it if I wasn't growing soft towards anyone, but I guess I can't help it if it's because they resemble my parents.

_But I won't ever allow __myself get comfortable around them_, I resolved, _because no matter how similar they are to my parents, they can never be them._

I look up to the orange sky of _Second Life_ in thought for a while before I pat Garel lightly on his head in praise. Garel growls quietly in contentment as he lays his head down in the grass; my hand remains on his head while I just stare up into the sky for a while.

I then remove my hand from Garels' head and say a quiet 'goodbye' before logging out.

I wake up 10 minutes before my alarm would have woken me and remove the game console from my head before sitting up with a determined glint in my eyes.

I won't let those two ruin my plans just because they resemble my parents. I won't let myself grow any attachments to anyone until I've reached my goal. No matter what…

* * *

><p>Heng Shi: So that's why… I can't believe that I didn't realize it sooner…<p>

What? That you're growing soft?

Heng Shi: No… That Jing's and Prince's personalities are similar to my parents'.

Well, I knew it a long time ago.

Heng Shi: Of course you did, you're writing the story.

Ok, he's really boring… -_-"

I'll leave now, since it seems like Heng Shi is too happy for me be able to mess with him right now!

See you soon, and remember to review~! ^^


	20. Testing a student

… I really suck at updating… TT-TT I haven't updated this in what? Over a month?_!_ I feel like a horrible author! I've been so focused on my other stories that I got a writer's block on this one! And I've also started a new one that I've worked for five whole days with… FIVE DAYS! I could have worked with this one, but noooo. When I was about to start writing, all I could think of was scenes for my Disgaea crossover! TTT-TTT I'm so sorry! Also, when I re-read some of my previous chapters I noticed how poorly done they were, so I'll soon start a project on rewriting those.

Heng Shi: …

Hey… Where's Heng Shi?

SeaDevil: Oh, h-he took a vacation!

He WHAT? I never allowed him to take a vacation! And what are you doing here Fishy-chan? Not that I don't mind your company; you're way better than Heng Shi.

SeaDevil: I'm here as Heng Shi's replacement.

… And why is that…?

SeaDevil: -Cries anime tears- I'm sorry Bun-bun, but he would kill me if I didn't do it!

-Cries anime tears as well- Poor Fishy-chan! I know how horrifying it is to be threatened by him! Now you reader go ahead and read the story while I help Fishy-chan out from this trauma!

SeaDevil: He just jumped out from the screen while I was correcting it! He had bloody hands and a knife!

Oh, so that's why one of my kitchen knives is missing… So it's your fault! Now I can't have my meat!

* * *

><p>I'm sitting outside the dango shop with an empty plate in front of me and a cup of tea in my hand, waiting for Prince to arrive. I've been here for about 30 minutes, calmly eating some dango and drinking tea. I don't know when he'll arrive, but I hope it'll be soon; I'm not the most patient person in the world…<p>

"Sabre!"

I lazily glance towards the voice and see Prince running towards me with his hand waving in the air, panting slightly. As he reaches my table, I calmly drink the last of my tea before I address him.

"You better not make me regret my decision." I look at him with one of my famous crazy grins. "Or you'll wish you never started this game."

Prince gulps nervously while I hear some of my 'fan girls' scream shrilly over my grin, but I justignore it, stand up from my chair and begin to walk towards the forest, Garel following me. I can hear Prince hesitate for a moment before he follows us, quickly walking up to my left since Garel is walking on my right. He fidgets a little bit before deciding to ask me something in hope of starting a conversation.

"So… Why did you decide to teach me all of a sudden?"

I spare a bored glance at his nervous, yet curious, expression before I look ahead of me again.

"I'm not sure why… But you remind me of someone I used to hold dear, so maybe that's the reason."

"Really? Who was that?"

I tense up slightly before walking ahead of them without giving Prince an answer to his question. Like hell I'll tell a stranger about my parents; hell has to freeze over in order for that to happen. I can hear Garel talk quietly with Prince behind me.

"It's a touchy subject; don't ask my master about it anymore."

"Oh, ok… I have a question for you though…"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you staying with that guy? He's giving me the creeps…"

Prince's comment makes me smirk slightly in satisfaction at the same time as I can hear Garel snort in amusement.

"We're more alike than you think… And my master has his good moments, even though he doesn't show them in public."

I become a little angry at Garels statement and decide to break their little friendly conversation up.

"Shut up, you damn dragon! You don't know what you're talking about!"

I can hear Garel snort in amusement once again before he follows my order and stays quiet for the rest of our walk towards a clearing whereI know monsters do not appear. As I step into the middle of it**,** I remove the broadsword from my back and transform it into it**s **katana form. I glance over my shoulder to look at my now-student Prince seriously; he seems tense and ready for an attack, with his hand twitching towards his black sabre.

Without turning to fully face him, I place my katana on my shoulder and say, "Attack me."

Prince looks a little confused, so I decide to elaborate. "I'll haveto see whatyou're already good at, and what we needto work on in order to train you properly." He nods in understanding and draws his sword while Garel walks over to sit beside a tree at the edge of the clearing to watch us.

Prince draws his sword and positions himself in a fighting stance, but I don't bother to do the same, opting instead to just observe him to see when he will attack.

I can see his leg muscles tense as he sprints forward with his sword slanting down towards the ground on his right side. So he's right handed…

He's coming at a fast pace, but as he swings up to slice my right side I simply twist my sword in my hand so that it lies along my arm and block his swipe by simply moving my arm a little so that my elbow is behind my back. I didn't have to move anything other than my arm to both block his sword and point the tip of my sword against his throat**, **easily showing the difference in skill between us.

Well… That round was easily won… I can hear Garel's hissing laughter; he's probably thinking the same thing.

I raise an amused eyebrow at Prince's shocked and terrified face at the fact that I barely moved, but still defeated him. To point out to him how far he has yet to go**,** I press my sword lightly at his throat to draw a few drops of blood that start trickling down his throat before I remove my sword and thrust his sword away from mine.

Prince stumbles backwards while holding his throat, still in shock that I could react as fast as I did. I once again place my sword on my shoulder, but this time I fully turn towards him with a cruel smirk on my face.

"If that's all you can do, then you'll be visiting the rebirth point in just a few minutes. The sloppier your guard is, the more serious the wounds will be. Sincethat was the first time, you only got a small scratch; but don't let me catch you open like that again if you still want me to teach you. Feel free touse surprise attacks if you want. We both know that that is the only chance you have of catching me off guard instead of the other way around. I seriouslydoubt that you'll succeed in even scratching me, though."

At the last sentence, I can see Prince's face become determined and he once again readies himself to attack me. I can see some flaws in his stance, but pointing them out can wait till later. After all, he'll probably change it after we've fought for a while. It is pointless to correct a stance that he might not even use.

I also take astance, making it clear to Prince that I'll be serious this time, causing him to gulp anxiously before his determination overwhelms his nervousness and he rushes forward once again. This time, I meet him in the middle instead of just waiting for him to come to me.

As our swords clash with each other, I have to make a conscious effort torefrain from shocking him with my electrical magic andremind myself that this isn't a battle aiming to kill; just a spar to observe his skills.

I easily outmatch him in strength and swipe him back into a tree, breaking contact betweenus. As Prince is trying to regain his balance, his guard is open and I rush forward to slice his shoulder, but he manages to block my sword just in time.

Prince pushes my sword away from his danger zone before I have time to add any real pressure to it and overpower him again and swipes for my head. I decide to jump backwards instead of blocking his sword with the spikes in my glove to give him some more time to recover from colliding with the tree.

But it seems like I underestimated him, because just as I jump back, Prince shifts his grip on his sword a little and rushes forward to catch me off guard. He probably thinks that I won't be able to react fast enough to block his sword if I am in the air or preoccupied with finding a footing.

As I land, I smirk smugly and use the ground as leverage to quickly bounce forward to meet him. To say that Prince was surprised isan understatement, but he managesto block my incoming sword anyway, even though it means that he'll have to abandon his offensive rush and stop in his tracks. As our swords meet, he skids back a few feet due to having badfooting when he blocked my blow.

When my feet touch the ground again, I bend my knees a little and stretch out one leg toswipe away Prince's legs fromunderneath him, making him loose his footing completely. I then twist my body so that I can place my hands on the ground and kick him with my other leg, sending him flying into the same tree as before. This time, he hits the tree with even more force than before and he choughs up a little blood; not very surprising, seeing as this was the third time I caught him.

But Prince shakily stands up again with help from the tree he just got slammed into, placing his sword in front of him once again. With a wicked grin I chuckle darkly, making Prince nervous again; just like I wanted.

"Come on, you'll never be able to give me even a small scratch if you continue like that. Think differently than you're doing now; you know that I'm way above your league - not at the same level as you are. Your usual fighting style of just rushing in won't work on me."

Prince furrows his eyebrows in either confusion or concentration as he pushes himself away from the tree, having recovered enough from the blow to be able to stand on his own again.

_Now, let's see how good he is at defence. _I think, my grin growing larger.

I run forward, beginning my assault, while at the same time keeping my speed in mind and forcing myself to go at aslower pace than I normally would be, but it seems like even this much is almost too fast for Prince. He just barely had enough time to be able to block my sword from hitting his chest.

I aim a kick for his head, knowingly leaving him room to either jump back – the instinctual, but not always best, reaction when one is faced with an attack aimed for one's head – or dodge to the sides, wanting to see if he could control such knee-jerk reactions and check if he was aware of his surroundings and what effect they could have on the fight. The idiot jumps back, letting himself be cornered against the tree I've sent him flying into two times already and thus failing my little test.

I give him a disapproving look before I continue my assault**. **It only takes me one more attack before his back presses against the rough bark as he blocks me and he realizes his mistake, his eyes going wide before quickly flitting from side to side to find a way out of his predicament. I'm not about to let him get away quite yet, though. He needs to experience the consequences such a mistake can have first-hand. As such, I keep up my offensive for a while, letting him scramble to try and block me as well as he can with his movements restricted by the tree at his back. I nick, cut, and kick him a few times before I come in for a roundhouse kick while our swords are locked, launching him away from the tree while at the same time knocking his sword down hard, almost knocking it out of his grip.

I give Prince a second or two to regain his footing before I come after him. Hedodges and blocks my sword while moving backward. Moving backwards in and on itself is nothing bad, but the way he's doing it is leaving a lot of openings; he seems to be focusing on his upper body, leaving his feet unprotected. This didn't just happen once or twice** – **if I had usedevery single opportunity he gave me to trip him, he would have fallen to the ground at least 10 times by now. And that's 10 times too much…

When I decide that I've seen enough, I use the moment when he relaxes the grip on his sword a little after blocking one of my swipes to hit my knee against his underarms hard enough to make him drop his weapon. Withthe weapon out of the way, I bring my sword to his neck and my arm to his chest to push him the last distance to the nearest tree and make him completely immobile.

With my arm pressed hard against his chest and my sword held against his neck, we are standing really close to each other, our noses almost touching. For some reason, his eyes doesn't widen in fear like I thought they would, but in surprise and embarrassment. I can also see his whole face turn red in a furious blush.

I raise a questioning eyebrow while a smirk stretches across my features, making him grow even redder than before for some reason. I snort in amusement before I step away from him, sheathing my katana in the process.

I cross my arms and wait whilePrince does the same with his own sword, the blush still present. Is he gay? That would be the only logical reason as to why he acted like he did when we got so close… I'll ask him about it later.

When Prince's sword is sheathed and he's patiently waiting for me to say something, I go into my newly found 'teacher mode' as I let him know what flaws he has.

"Alright, now I know what you have to work on. 1. You have to relax your stance more, it's just a little too tense right now and if you relax you'll be able to be faster in your swings. I noticed it I from the beginning, but Ithought that it would get better during our spar, so I decided not to say anything about it. Turns out I was wrong on that part. 2. You analyze your opponent pretty well, even if youcan get better, but you have to learn to focus on analyzing your own posture and swings, too, so as not to not create any gaps that your opponent can use against you. 3. Be aware of anduse your environment against your opponent. If you use your surroundings it can get a lot easier to defeat your opponent. You have to analyse it fast, however; your opponent won't give you time to look at your surroundings for long. 4. Try to find out your opponent's weakness instead of just attacking wildly, because everyone has one no matter how good they are; you just have to look at the opponent the right way in order to figure it out. 5. Don't let emotions get in the way**; **you can lose the fight if your opponent decides to use them to their advantage and goad you into making a fatal mistake."

I smirk a little as I point out the fifth thing that he has to work on; obviously he's still afraid of me, which is natural, considering thathe has seen what I can do. He gives me a respectful salute, taking in every word I just said.

"Yes, Lao shi!"

I blink in confusion, surprised by the respect he shows me by even considering calling me his tutor. I look over to Garel with a smug smirk on my face; he had thought that Prince wouldn't call me anything like that. Garel just rolls his eyes at me in response; silently telling me that something like that was not worth an ego boost. Too bad for him that my ego thought otherwise.

I chuckle at the thought before I turn back to Prince with the cruel smirk once again plastered on my face.

"Now… We'll begin with your posture before we move on to your awareness and then, if we have time, we'll work on your 7th sense. (1)"

Prince nods in agreement, completely trusting my judgment in how to train him. If we begin to train the 7th sense though, he'll have to go through the same training as I got when I was a kid. And that is no walk in the park…

* * *

><p><strong>-Time skip- <strong>

We only got to train for two days in total (one full day, and two half days) since Prince had to train together with his team a lot to prepare for the finals. Prince has improved his swordsmanship during our training, but not enough to get me satisfied. That, coupled with the fact that it took a verylong time for him to even understand what he was supposed todo when we trained his awareness, resulted in that we hadn't had any time to work on his 7th sense…

It is now the day of the tournament finals and I'm on my way towards the arena to get a good seat. I wonder how the battle will be like… I have heard something about 'the ultimate clash' but I'm not sure what that means. Maybe a player massacre; that would be fun to watch…

As I step inside the arena, I see that a lot of people have already arrived. There are no seats left in the front row, but I spot two seats on the second row that aren't taken yet. Two other players also seem to have set their sights on those two places, but unfortunately for them, I've already claimed those two places as mine, so if those players take them, they will die.

I nudge Garel, who's so big now that he reaches my waist, and point at the two seats; all without taking my eyes off the two players approaching them. He takes off into the air and just before the two players come within touching distance of the seats, Garel lands on top of them and roars at the players in warning.

The girl player gets really scared and shrieks loudly as she latches onto the male; an action that probably indicates that he is her boyfriend. He is slowly backing away from the growling Garel in fear. I smirk in satisfaction as I walk over to the seats to sit down.

When I reach Garel, the players still too closefor my tastes, so I pet Garel's head and flash a crazy grin at the two.

"Thank you for giving these seats to me; now I won't have to kill you to have them."

My comment seems to scare them even more, because the two players quickly turn around and run away from me and Garel.

I snicker at their reactions and pet Garel one more time before he moves his tail so that I can sit down in the seat next to him. As I'm seated I flash him a satisfied smirk before I turn my gaze towards the empty arena, seeing as there is nothing better to do; there's still about one hour left until the battle will begin…

I sigh out of boredom after just half an hour and think to myself with a scowl: 'This better be worth the wait…'

"Why don't you read something from the leader board to pass the time?"

"Hmm?" I say absently as I look at Garel with my forehead still resting against the cool metal of my broadsword's blade. I have placed the tip of my sword on the ground and am currently still holding onto the handle so that I can lean against it more comfortably.

Garel just shakes his head at my current state of laziness and repeats (with some modifications) what he said just a few seconds ago. "Read the leader board to pass the time instead of sulking like that."

I frown at Garels choice of words and lift my head from my sword, still holding on to it so that it doesn't fall down to the ground.

"I'm not sulking," I reply angrily. "It's just that nothing is happening, there are no monsters to kill, the players are too easy - and therefore too boring** -** to kill because all of them are focused on something else, I can't jump down to the arena because only competitors are allowed down there, talking to anyone is out of the question and I don't want leave either, since then someone else would take these seats and I wouldn't get a good view of the massacre. And I don't feel like reading right now, so there is nothing to do but wait, causing me to become completely bored."

Since I was too focused on complaining to Garel, I didn't notice that all the people around me had stopped in what they were doing to look at me nervously and edge away when I mentioned killing players.

Garel sighs and looks at me in irritation before he just shakes his head and ignores me completely by moving one of his green-lined wings in between us so that he won't have to look at me.

I snort loudly and rest my head against my sword once again, mumbling grumpily.

"This better be worth it… If I have to wait any longer than one hour, I'm going to kill every single person here… If I don't get to see a massacre, I'll just make one myself… … Ugh… I hate waiting…"

Like the last time, all of the players around me give me nervous glances and scoot away from me just a little bit; but unlike last time, I notice it.

I lift my head from my sword and look at the players around me; they all avoid meeting my eyes, as if I was going to kill them if they so much as looked at me. I inwardly smirk in satisfaction at their frightened expressions; it's fun to scare people.

I narrow my eyes a little as I lock gazes with a male elven player sitting in front of me who's still holding on to his strong posture, even though I can see some fear in his eyes.

"You've got a problem?" I ask him unemotionally, my eyes filled with irritation, anger and a hint of amusement. But I don't think that the male player can see the 'hint of amusement' part.

He winces slightly at the combination of my empty voice and fierce glare, but recovers quickly, showing that he won't back down that easily.

"No, not at all." He says with the same kind of voice I used. I frown slightly; something about his voice reminds me of someone… And his face looks very familiar… He's staring at me with slight fear, but also with some smugness; probably because I haven't made him back down yet. I can also see a hint of… confusion? Why would he be confused?

I grin my typical crazy grin, with my bangs shadowing my eyes a little, making my yellow eyes glow.

"Good. Because otherwise, I would have had to kill you. It would have been very entertaining to hear your screams. Your voice kind of reminds of someone who I find very annoying."

The male player goes pale,and considering that elves have very pale skin naturally, he almost looks like a ghost. He turns around stiffly, so that I'm now only able to see his green, flame-like hair instead of his face and ruby eyes.

I snort in satisfaction, but continue to stare at the back of his head, trying to figure out who he reminds me of.

Is it someone from my guild? No, they don't annoy me much. It could be someone from my school… But those from the student council wouldn't show confusion when I act like that, so who could it be?

I furrow my brows in concentration as I rack my brain for someone annoying that has a similar voice to that male player's. Who can it be…? Maybe the former captain of the karate club? It is a huge possibility…

A huge grin slowly grows on my face as I come up with a plan about how to entertain myself until the tournament begins. This is going to be fun…

I hand my sword over to Garel, who politely removes his wing from where it had acted as a barrier between us to be able to carefully cradle it with his claws, and lean forward so that my face is next to the male's. He's still really pale and stiff, and his eyes are filled with confusion and panic, as if he's a prey hiding from a predator that he never knew was there.

When he's about to glance over his shoulder to look at me, he tenses up ten-fold when he sees my curious yellow eyes directly in his line of vision, but I keep my gaze as captivating as possible so that he wouldn't look away.

"You know… You look creepily familiar to a really annoying person in my school…" I say with a thoughtful frown on my face. The former karate captain tries to pull of a poker-face… and succeeds. That is, if you don't count his unnatural paleness, which is obviously caused by fear.

I snap my fingers with a happy grin on my face, my face-mask on for the first time in _Second Life_. "You're the former captain of the karate club; the one I took over after beating you up during a duel on my first day. You've been annoying me a lot since then." I laugh in embarrassment while rubbing the back of my head, acting like I'm sorry.

"I'm sorry, but I never did bother to learn your name."

The former captain relaxes as I begin to talk and act like I do in school, and as I mention that I don't know his name, he becomes his normal angry and cocky self. I lean away from him a little so that our faces aren't as close anymore when he begins to scream angrily.

"What?_!_ You beat me in a fight, I become your formidable enemy and you don't even bother to learn my name?_!_ How rude can you be?_!_ My name is Ken Jin Xian and you would've known it if you'd looked into the membership book for the karate club!"

I hold up my hand in defence while looking at him with a bored expression. "Hey, it's not my fault that I don't want to put down that much effort just to know the name of an annoying person. But now that I know it, I must say that the name sounds a little ridiculous… Let's exchange game names instead; I'm Sabre. You?"

Ken Jin's eyes widen at the mention of my game name, but he quickly composes himself. It seems like the rumours about mehave spread a long way… That's good.

"Why should I give you my game name? It's enough that I gave you my real one." I smile happily at him, my eyes sparkling with bloodlust and craziness.

"Because then we could go and kill monsters together."

Ken Jin shivers from my too-sweet tone but stands his ground as I lean a little bit closer to whisper in malice: "But don't blame me if I kill you on accident; I can't control myself sometimes."

Ken Jin's eyes widen a little bit in fear, but he struggles not to show it. Too bad for him that I grew up as an assassin and have worked as one for years, resulting in me knowing the human body language very well.

I can see Garel shake his head at my cruelty out of the corner of my eye, even though he secretly enjoys it as much as I do. But he understands that I shouldn't show my true self in front of someone who I'm meeting in the real world, so he decides to crash my little party.

"You should stop tormenting him, Sabre. As much as I like to watch, it isn't nice."

I laugh and look over my shoulder at Garel, who's still holding my sword like an obedient servant, with a grin.

"I know, but it's just so much fun to see everyone look so scared compared to the looks they give me in real life. And having an outlet like this helps me with being the 'good boy' my parents wanted me to be. I can't be polite all the time; I have to be mean sometimes. So why not do it in second life?"

Garel chuckles while shaking his head as if he's thinking that I'm crazy, though I know that it's only an act.

"Whatever you say."

Ken Jin looks at Garel in surprise for a few seconds before he turns to me with a frown on his face. I can hear the people around me start to cheer in joy, but choose to ignore for now.

"You've got a talking dragon? Way to go. Now you can start a freak show."

I give him a fierce glare in response, which makes him back down a little, much to my amusement.

"Never mind, the tournament is about to start." He says before turning away from me to look at the arena.

As I too look at the arena, I see that he's right. Huh… Time flies by so fast when you're having fun… So that was why they all started cheering…

Players are beginning to walk inside the arena and take their places as the announcer calls out to the audience.

"Everyone, a hundred of _Second Life_'s most outstanding teams will soon be participating in an intense battle for survival. Don't look away, or you'll miss seeing this exciting scene. Don't close your mouths – cheer your hearts out for your favourite team! I am Xiao Li, the commentator who will be reporting this entire life-and-death battle for you all today!"

An excited grin stretches across my face; finally I get to see some slaughter! The audience screams out good-luck wishes as well as killing chants. I decide to not partake in any of those, but Ken Jin screams out "Hell yeah!" in excitement.

I take back my sword from Garel so that he can sit more comfortably and place it on the ground again so that I can rest against it during the match. The announcer continues to speak.

"An arena of 600 definitely cannot be underestimated! In the midst of all these teams, three masses clearly stand out! In the front of all three stands their head leader!"

I look down at the three masses and can clearly see the three leaders. One is a tiger beastman, one is a human with black spiky hair pulled up in a ponytail and the last one is an elf-like man with long blond hair. All of them seem like the typical leader type, apart from their stupidity in making themselves into such obvious targets, but I can't see Prince in any of the teams. I smile; that's good. He must be planning to let the three groups battle and then, when all of them are tiered out, his team will have an easier time in killing them all.

I spot Prince's team together with another team, the one they spent so much time training with - Dark Phantom** -** standing by the side-lines of the arena and my grin grows wider. He seems really nervous and afraid, but I'm not about to let my only apprentice be like that in the finals. I let his group talk for a while, ignoring all of the cheers and shouts around me to focus only on them.

After the two teams have finished talking, I PM Prince while gazing at the back of his head even more intently that before. Like I thought, it makes him turn around nervously and look for me in the audience.

"_Now make sure that I didn't train you for nothing, or I'll kill you. Oh, and be sure to kill a lot for me when you join the fray. Don't you dare loose this tournament._"

When mine and Prince's eyes meet, I slowly lick my lips with a low chuckle. I think I scared everyone around me (again) with the evil aura that surrounded me…

Prince gets a little freaked out, but I can see the determination in his eyes even from this distance. I have no idea what he wants to prove to me, but something is it. I've come to recognize that look during our training. Is it that he's strong? That he's worthy of the 'Blood Elf' title? Or perhaps that he is worthy of my respect? I really have no idea of what's going through his head.

Gui, the purple haired man, notices Princes slight discomfort and it looks like he's asking if he's alright. After Prince answers, he once again looks up into the audience at my grinning face. Gui follows his gaze and when he sees me sitting there, his eyes harden into a glare. I can feel another glare and soon notice that it belongs to the blond haired dark elf in Dark Phantom. I just narrow my eyes on them, but before I have the pleasure of making them uncomfortable enough to force them to look away, the announcer's voice distracts them.

"Now, I'll officially announce," All of the players tense up, preparing for battle. "BATTLE BEGIN!_!_!"

Once those words sounded through the speakers, a disappointed frown reaches my features. Only Prince's group moved! What is this!_?_

But it seems like I'm not the only one who's confused by this, because the announcer soon cries out in the speakers: "What's going on? Nobody's taking action! Everyone's standing completely still!"

Ok… I'll give the players on the arena five seconds before I'll make them move myself…

one…

two…

three…

four…

five!

With that, I stand up in my seat and yell down at the arena in anger.

"Why the hell are you all fucking pussies!_?_! Get a move on before I come down and kill you all myself!_!_!_!_!"

My outburst echoes through the arena, and apparently being called 'pussy' angered the tiger beastman leader, because he pointed at the other two leaders and gave the thumbs down. He then charged forward with his large group behind him.

I smile in satisfaction and sit down on my seat again to enjoy the match. The human team meets the beasts' charge and the two teams clash with each other, signalling the true beginning of the huge melee battle.

A huge dust cloud rises quickly and prevents the audience from seeing much of what was going on below. The announcer begins to shout excitedly into the mike.

"It's such a mashed battle, we can't tell who's fighting who at all!" The audience begins to shout with equal excitement as the announcer, seemingly not perturbed by the fact that they actually couldn't see anything at the moment.

I continue to watch the dust cloud silently as it slowly disappears to reveal the battling players. The groups of the human and the beastman appeared to have clashed, but the last team, the one the elf-like man is leading, is still standing still. Either they're all just cowards, or they're being smart by waiting it all out like Prince is.

I can notice a lot of people look at me nervously as I chuckle silently at the bloody battle going on before me, and I'm sure that Ken Jin has become really suspicious of me, but I don't care right now, because it's time to watch some bloodshed!

* * *

><p>The sixth sense is balance, so the seventh is the supernatural one, despite common beliefs.<p>

How was that chapter? Good? Bad? Was my fighting scene acceptable? I'm sorry if I disappointed anyone by not showing how Prince and Sabre trained, but I just couldn't come up with any training methods! T-T

SeaDevil: Don't worry Bun-bun. I thought it was good.

Thanks Fishy-chan, but I feel like I have to work even harder with this story, because less and less people are reviewing. Even Vampie-chan has stopped reviewing! So that means that I have to come up with something exciting in this story, and I know what it can be, because me and Vampie-chan have talked about it, but it's still a long time before that happens. I just hope that my readers will bear with me until then…

SeaDevil: I'm sure they will! Don't get your hopes down so easily! –Pats my back in comfort- I'm still reviewing, and I don't plan on stopping!

-Becomes revived and stands up more straight with a determined face on- You're right! Now, let's get Heng Shi back! He can't have vacation anymore! It's time for him to work! –Pulls out two fishnets, two bulletproof vests and two tranquilizer pistols-

SeaDevil: -Stands next to me with a similar determined face and the equipment on- Yes! Time to pay him back for using me like that!

-We both look each other and our determination falls into horror and fear-

Both: We'll die for sure!

Well… If I live this through… Be sure to review so that I can read your beautiful words to get me out from the trauma I'm about to go through…

SeaDevil: Yeah… And I also have a ½ Prince fanfiction… Can you read and review it to get me out from the trauma as well? You can find me through Bun-bun's favourite authors… It's on hiatus right now, but I won't drop it, I swear!

Both: -Cries floods of anime tears while bowing- We would really appreciate it!

I hope I see you soon!

Both: -Runs off to find Heng Shi while screaming and waving our weapons in the air-


	21. Sorry! My first Author Note!

**At least read the bold text!**

Hi everyone! How are you? ^^

I'm sorry that this isn't a real update… :( But school is busy for both me and Seadevil, my beta, so neither of us has much time to write… And both of us are a little lazy when it comes to writing… ^^"

But, why I'm updating this author note is to ask you guys what you think I should write about for this story's 'birthday'. I know that this story's birthday already has passed, but better late than never! ;) It will be a chapter that I will hold a 'secret' to my beta so I won't send the birthday chapter to her to beta read. So it might have a few grammar faults, but I'll make sure that I'll do my best! :)

So, what do you think?** Should I write a birthday chapter to the story? If so, do you have any ideas? Or do you want to have a sneak peak on future chapters? Or do you want me to explain something? Or should I write a scene of pure randomness? :/**

**Review** or **PM **me to suggest something! I will give a special announcement to the one who comes up with the greatest idea and I'll also use that idea in the birthday chapter! ^^

**REVIEW!**

****(Heng Shi: Please, don't make her torture me... I get enough of that during the author notes at the beginning and end of the chapters...

Now, now. It's the readers who decide that, so you have no say in the matter. -grins at him evilly-

Heng Shi: ... Fuck you.)


	22. Birthday one-shot

(Note: This author note conversation is before the time when I and SeaDevil chased after Heng Shi when he escaped, so that's why he's still tied down and doesn't mention about being captured. This should have been posted at 8/22-2012 so I thought that I would make a conversation that would fit with that time.)

Hi everyone! I hope you had a merry Christmas and a happy new year! I'm back with a special one-shot in celebration to the birth of 'The Time Assassin'! I hope that you'll all enjoy it! –Throws confetti around myself- I'm thankful for those who suggested some things that I could write about, but I decided to use Paxloria's idea in the end. It was the suggestion that I could get most ideas to scenes from!

Heng Shi: … So, I'm not the main character in this chapter?

Nope! So you can actually sit down and relax for now! Oh, right, you're already sitting… Heheh, my bad.

Heng Shi: Well, I would highly appreciate if you let loose these chains so that I can stretch my legs. I've been sitting down for a very long time, so my legs are kind of stiff.

-Gasp- Heng Shi's being polite! To me of all people! Who are you and what have you done to Heng Shi?! –Pokes Heng Shi rapidly on the top of his head-

Heng Shi: -His eyebrow twitches in irritation- Shut up and untie me already! I'm tired of sitting down!

Oh, ok. –Shrugs shoulders- You don't have to yell. –Begins to let him lose from his chains-

Heng Shi: Huh? -Grins widely- That's more like it. -Gets a dangerous glint in his eyes that I don't notice-

-Huff- These chains are hard to get lose… Well, you readers can go ahead and read the special chapter while I untie Heng Shi from his bindings. –Whispers so that Heng Shi can't hear me- To be honest with you, I feel kinda bad about tying him down for so long so that's why I'll allow him to be let loose only for this chapter. Don't worry about me, ok? –Talks in normal volume- See you later! I hope this chapter will reach your expectations!

Heng Shi: -mouthing evil words behind my back- Are you sure about that? –Grins evilly-

* * *

><p><strong>Garel<strong>** POV**

I sigh in content as I'm resting in the sun after a good hunt. The warm rays from the sun are warming my white scales to the point where it's not too hot or too cold to take a nap. My leather bag is once again filled with goods that I've gathered from the monsters I've slaughtered. Even though Sabre has bought me a bigger leather bag since I became larger with my growing level, I think I need an even bigger one because of all the loot I get from killing.

I don't remember which level I'm in right now since I've stopped listening to the system notice… I'm way over level 50 at least, that's something that both me and Sabre are sure of since I began talking when I got to level 40 and have leveled a lot since then.

I yawn loudly, bringing one clawed hand to my snout in a human-like manner before I resume my curled up position with one of my green-lined wings covering my head from making the sunlight shine into my eyes. It's pretty boring without Sabre here; sure, I can scare people with my flames to entertain myself sometimes, but it much more fun to see their reactions when Sabre creeps them out with his unique personality. I could kill monsters, but I've killed enough for now. At least until Sabre gets here…

As I'm just about to succumb into the world of dreams, I can hear a rustling sound in the bushes to my right and a following sound of two pairs of small, clawed paws trotting over to where I'm lying. I don't let the sound alert me yet, but just wait for the one approaching to come within hitting range with my tail.

The creature is obviously a pet since it's approaching me so boldly, but I can't figure out which kind of pet it is just by sound. But no matter how big or small the pet is I won't change my mind about slapping the animal away with my tail like the irritating fly it is. I didn't know there where another animal who stays solid while its master is gone. I wonder what made this one stay.

The pet stops just a few small steps away from my tail range, it seems like it's hesitating about approaching me in my 'sleep'. It has every reason to be hesitant since it's about to approach one of the most powerful pets around here, it shouldn't be brave enough to even look at me but I guess this one is either very brave or very stupid. I think I'll go with the second option since every other pets that I've, ehm… , 'talked' to have all been unintelligent enough for me to kill them. But to my disappointment, they re-spawn just like the masters do. I would have gotten a lot more pleasure in killing them with knowing that they'll never come back.

It seems like the pet wants to start a conversation with me as it's walking forward. Finally, it's in my hitting range.

"Excuse me, but you're Ga-"

I cut it off by my jamming my tail into its side hard, twisting my tail to make my small green spikes scratch its skin, and being sure that no matter how big the pet is; it would at least slide away from me a few feet. Luckily for me, the pet is average-sized and flies through the air until it gets stopped by a tree with a loud cracking sound. A yelp of a dog comes from the direction where I swapped away the pet, which proves that this creature is a dog.

The dog is coughing violently to try and regain its breath; I can hear the rustle from the grass as it tries to stand up on its four feet but falls down to the ground again with a 'thump'. I decide to take this momentum to try and make the pet leave me alone, but I'm too lazy to glare at the creature. I'll just keep my head underneath my wing for now…

"Get lost and let me sleep. It won't end pretty for you if you stay here."

The dog coughs a few more times before successfully standing up on its paws. Its legs are probably shaking under its weight, but why should I care about how much pain I've caused it? I just want to be left alone.

"W-well, -cough- I-I just want to talk for a while. Isn't that ok?"

I snort in irritation while a small growling sound escapes my nostrils. Why does pets want to converse with each other when they can talk to their masters? Why is it so important to them? Or is it just that they want to prove to other pets that they're over level 40? Tch, stupid creatures.

"Go away, I have no interest in talking to anyone that irritate me. You were added on my 'irritating list' the second you approached me."

The pet whimpers sadly before sitting down on the ground, still thankfully keeping the large distance between me and itself intact.

A long silence draws out between us. I'm quiet because I'm waiting for the pet to leave; I have no interest in talking to the one looking at me. The pet is probably thinking through what to say to me or is mentally arguing with itself if it should leave or not. I really hope that it's doing the second option, but apparently I'm wrong on that part since it once again starts talking, this time with more confident in its voice than before.

"My name is Tanya, it's nice to finally meet you."

The dog's introduction is met by silence as I try to ignore it. But it continues to talk, and now I can notice the high-pitched tone it's using. That means that this pet is either a very young boy or a female. I think I'll go with the latter since Sabre has said that all women are crazy.

"You're Garel, right? The only dragon so far here in central continent? You must feel lonely to be the only pet dragon around here…"

I continue to be quiet, not seeing any reason to answer her.

"But don't worry, there are plenty of other pets that you can play with, me for example if you want to. Why is it that you're still in the game when your master's gone? I thought that only the abandoned pets stayed in here when the humans 'logged out', but I guess I was wrong. Maybe it has something to do with your master's special class? It must be amazing to be the pet to such a famous man as the 'pure lightning' Sabre."

Wow, this dog sure is talkative. No wonder its master wanted to abandon it. Why is it that she's talking to me even though she knows that she won't get an answer? Does she want to prove some point?

"You get a hard treatment, right?"

I tense up and begin to growl softly at her rude assumption. How dare she_?_! Just because Sabre has that kind of personality doesn't mean he treats me the same way as he does towards his enemies. We both noticed that we are alike and different in many ways the moment our eyes met. We both have a killer's eye! I knew that I would get along with him well since he didn't seem to be the controlling type, more like 'defying orders make life fun'-type. I would've never let Sabre's blood touch me if I didn't knew that he would be like a real master, someone that I would do anything for. I'm not stupid enough to go with a master that wouldn't let me do what I want! Is she calling me stupid for being Sabre's pet? That's just something I won't tolerate!

Apparently, the female dog thinks that me tensing up proves her point right and she continues to talk, almost boasting and even more confident. I don't have to look at her to know that she's puffing out her chest in pride since she thinks that she knows everything about me.

"I've heard all about Sabre's reputation and even seen how cruel he is towards his enemies in action." My growling grows louder, but the dog doesn't notice it because of the distance between us.

"Being around him must be tough, constantly seeing him scare people with that personality of his. I know that I would constantly be scared of him if I got to see his crazy expression every day; it looks like he seriously enjoys ending lives." Well, in case you didn't know, so do I.

"You should leave him since he's giving you such a rough treatment. Become a free pet, just like me. We can be free, together forever since we won't ever die." Her voice gets a wishful tone to it now when she continues talking. My temper is beginning to boil over and explode. I may be better at keeping hold on my temper than Sabre is, but that doesn't mean I'm good at it.

"I would like to know more about you, I would like to be the one that you can say all your secrets to. I would like to be the one that you look at every day with a soft grin on your face. I want to hunt with you, curl up to your side in my sleep and most of all, I want to marry you."

I twitch in irritation. What the hell is this woman talking about! Sabre was right, all the females are crazy! Why would I want to 'marry' someone? Sabre has explained to me clearly what it is and it sounds so bothersome! You get tied to that person for life? I would never do something that stupid!

"I don't know what it is, but I do know that it means that we'll be together forever. I don't care about your killing lust; it's probably just your frustration leaking out in battle to make it look like you enjoy killing." Tch, yeah, right.

"But it's ok, that frustration will disappear if you leave Sabre and become a wild animal with me! The wild life is great; you don't have to listen to some stupid human's orders, you can eat whe-!"

"Alright, enough of your bullshit!"

I interrupt her loudly, growling furiously at her insulting words. The female doesn't seem to notice what she's done wrong since she obviously thinks that everything she just said was absolutely right.

"H-huh?" She asks me, confused at my sudden anger.

I fold back my wing that I had over my head and stand up, trying to show how much larger and stronger I am than the dog. I turn my head around so that I'm glaring into her yellow eyes with my own blazing red ones. I'm still growling furiously, making my angry aura seem even more dangerous and intimidating.

"I said, enough of your bullshit!" I growl at the dog while gathering some flames in my throat, making my mouth glow slightly with a red light. I blow out a large flame from my mouth towards the dog but she manages to get away with only the tip of her tail burned, much to my displeasure.

To say that she is surprised by my attack is an understatement; she obviously didn't think that I would attack her since she thinks that she is 'the one' for me. Maybe she though that I only had a though outside but a soft inside, tch, she knows absolutely nothing.

Now that I really look at the dog, I can see that she in fact is a wolf. She's normal sized and strangely enough has light purple, thick fur. She has yellow eyes, the same colour as Sabre, and her snout, chest and paws are grey. She would be very fitting for a female player…

Right now she's looking at me with shock in her eyes, not fear, but real shock. How can she not be afraid when she almost got killed? That just proves it, females are crazy.

But I shouldn't care about how she reacts; the important thing right now is to punish the one who insulted my master. But first, I'll try to make her realise that no one will insult Sabre in front of me when Sabre himself isn't around.

"You don't know one thing about Sabre and you know even less about me! You just waltz up to me, try to start a conversation when I clearly want to be alone and then you start talking bad about my master?_!_ Who the hell do you think you are, talking to me like that?_!_ Get out of my sight you stupid mutt!"

She obviously seems offended that I called her 'mutt' and she too begins to growl, but in irritation rather than anger.

"Excuse me, but I'm not a 'mutt', I'm a wolf!"

"And why do you think I care?_!_"

The wolf winches at my harsh and snappy tone, maybe finally realizing that she's in danger. But apparently she doesn't when she stops her growling and instead smiles cheekily at me, showing her two rows of white teeth.

"You wouldn't want to kill a cutie like me, right?"

Ok, that was the last straw; this bitch is going to die! Now!

With a roar, I lounge my massive weight towards her. But since she manage to jump away just in time, I instead crash into the tree that was behind her with my shoulder. This wolf sure is quick at running away. Stupid coward.

I use my tail to try and knock her off her feet so that I can slit her throat, but once again she dodges my attack. But stupidly enough, she jumps closer to me rather than away from me, just two feet away from my sharp claws.

I use this chance to swipe at her with my claws, grinning happily when it comes in contact with her shoulder while coating my claws and the ground with a beautiful red colour. The wolf once again yelps in pain, a very beautiful sound I might add, and tries to stagger away from me. But I, knowing that she would retreat, have already completely turned my body around towards her and I quickly use my other hand to grab her neck and push her down on the ground.

The force of my weight forcefully pressing her into the ground makes her whimper and cough in pain, another beautiful sound. I'm grinning victoriously down at my prey as she slowly opens her eyes. When she sees the glee in my red eyes, her own widen in shock.

"You shouldn't talk bad about me or my master. That will lead you to hell."

The wolf begins to shake in fright as I utter those words. My grin grows even larger at her pitiful form; now to give out her punishment.

I slowly tighten my grip around her throat, taking pleasure in watching her struggle for breathing. I begin to think over how to kill this pathetic creature…

Maybe I should do the classic, slit her throat? Nah, that would be too painless. Maybe run my claw through her stomach and twist around her insides? Yes, that would be bloody, but I feel like doing something else… But what do I want to do? I want to show her to stay away from me and never talk bad about my master, but what is the most horrible way to die?

Bleed to death? Suffocation? Or maybe… Burned alive?

I chuckle darkly at the thought, yes, that's perfect. One of the most painful ways to die… Why haven't I thought about it before?

I release the pressure around her neck slightly, charging up some flames as I mock her.

"Bye-bye you mutt. I hope we'll never meet again."

With that, I release my flames in her face.

I step away from the wolf as she begins to howl in pain and roll around in the grass to try putting the flames out. But the flames are spreading fast thanks to her thick fur and the light purple colour soon turns black and crispy. At one point, she rolls to where I'm standing, maybe in hope that I'll help her or she doesn't notice that she's close to me. But once she gets close enough, I just hit her away with my front paw, my satisfied grin growing even larger.

It's so much fun to see this stupid mutt roll around in the grass with a mixed hue of black and red. The red being my flames and some of her blood and the black is her burnt fur and skin. And do you know what? She struggles for at least 12 seconds, that's a lot judging by how much smoke her fur emits.

Most people think that it's the fire that kills the most, but it's actually the smoke. If the fire emits little smoke, good for you, you'll live a few seconds longer. But the fire could still burn up all your nerves so you can't move, but that would mean that the fire is stronger and that you'll die quicker. Since this wolf, Tanya was it? Since this wolf has so much fur, the fire emits a lot of smoke and she would have probably died in 10 seconds. Guess she was smart enough to hold her breath.

Right after the wolf dies, she looks into my eyes with a deep sorrow in her own, probably already blind, and then she turns into light and flies away. Why she looked at me in sorrow, I'll never want to know. But I can't help but wonder what's wrong with that creature's brain for even considering in marrying me… Why do females chase the killers? I just don't get it.

I sigh in content and slowly walk over to the burnt spot where the wolf previously 'died' to take my long awaited nap. It's much more comfortable to sleep on a heated rock than on grass, but I was just too lazy to fly over to the mountains not far away from here. Now that there is a black spot of burned grass, the ground might be heated up a little, which will make my nap more comfortable.

I walk around in the middle of the burned spot, flatting out the crispy grass slightly, before I lie down on my stomach and curl up in the same posture as I was in before that stupid mutt interrupted me. I growl in pleasure when I notice that the ground is indeed a little warmer than the previous place I rested on in this clearing. Also, the blood from the wolf is fastening itself on my green stomach, which means that I'll have some dried blood on me after my nap.

I grin happily at the smell the blood is emitting; this wolf actually gave me two things. A good show and a good resting place, even though she didn't mean to give those things to me, I don't care. I just hope that this will make her leave me alone.

I was wrong; oh fuck how wrong I was. I mean what?_!_ How would me killing her, make her believe that I need her help in 'removing my fake blood lust', and I just have to marry her so that she can take care of me?_!_ She's even brought with a shit load of friends that are all abandoned to try and capture me! This woman is out of her mind!

I'm currently looking for a good hiding place while flying away from the large mob of pets. (Sorry, pests in this situation) An alley won't work since they'll see me because of my white scales, they will also see me dive down into the hay if I do that, so that's not an option…

I tried fighting them off before, but there are just too many of them. It's not like I get tired or anything but I just get bored by doing the same thing, over and over with no end to those pests. So that's why I'm running away from them.

And no one can judge me by saying that it's cowardly to run away, I've seen Prince run away from girl mobs, as have Sabre. Sabre's doing it for the same reason as I'm doing now and Prince runs away because he's afraid of getting trampled or harassed, at least I think that's the reason.

But enough of that there has to be somewhere where these pets can't reach me… Maybe somewhere with high-level monsters will keep most of them at bay… Then, to the mountains it is.

I turn my head to the side to see if the mob's still following me. Yup, persistent as ever with that bone-head wolf in the rear, she's one big idiot for thinking like she does. And most of the mob is females actually, in all shapes and sizes. But what really bugs me is that almost all of them are attracted to me… Again, why would anyone love a killer? That's just insane.

I sigh tiredly, seeing no use in thinking the same thing again, and turn a sharp left in the next cross road that will soon lead me to the outskirts of town. I just hope my plan works… Or else, I'll have to kill them all and that will take a long time. I have to meet up with Sabre soon, so I don't have that kind of time on my hands.

"You don't have to run away, Garel! I only want to help you!" I growl, really irritated that the wolf is so persistent, and increase my speed. Can't she understand my answer by my actions? I don't want, or need, any help from anyone!

I come to a sudden halt when I feel Sabre log in. Crap, it's that time already? Now I'm late just because these things have made me fly all around town!

"-Sigh- So you finally understand, do you? I only want to help, the others too. We've been trying to say that many times, but you just wouldn't listen!"

I glare down over my shoulder at the annoying wolf while growling loudly. This woman just won't give up!

I turn my body in the air so that I'm facing the huge mob of pets, still glaring down at the 'leader' of the group. Maybe I should just release a powerful blast that will kill a lot of them and then go to meet up with Sabre. Why haven't I thought of that before? That would have saved me all the trouble from flying around the town while trying to lose them! I really should think before I waste my time…

Instead of trying to reason with that stubborn wolf, I gather up enough flames in my mouth to be able to release my special attack, flame explosion.

The pets notice me gathering up my red flames and most of them back away a little in fear, that's the smart way to act. But Tanya just stands still, holding her nose high up in the air while meeting my piercing gaze determinedly.

Why must she be so stubborn!

I release one single ball of fire that lands right in front of the wolf's feet. When the ball makes contact with the ground, it creases a huge explosion with pure, red fire. The moment I release my attack, I'm already flying towards where Sabre is.

I can't believe that I lost track of time! That's not like me! I just hope that those pets won't annoy me again… Maybe I should ask Sabre to PM those classmates of his so that the wolf can get a master again… He won't like it, but I could at least ask, there's no harm in that.

When I arrive in the alley where Sabre previously logged out, I can see him leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. His broad sword is reflecting the little sunlight that has made its way into the darkest corner and his eyes look like they're glowing with the intense gaze he's looking at me with.

His gaze clearly says 'You're late', but my only reply is turning my head to the side while looking on the streets of star city. Sabre gets my massage that 'I've been busy' and sighs in annoyance.

"So, the females finally got the guts this time, huh?"

I look at him with my eyes narrowed, what does that mean? Sabre grins wickedly while chuckling a little at my demise, he obviously knew that I would get chased by the female pets sooner or later, but I don't understand what he can see on me that points out that I've been chased.

"I told you that women are crazy, a lot of them love only the bad guys and we're as bad as they get. And how I can see that you've been chased? Your eyes and the blood that's on you."

I grin back at my master in relief, glad that I don't have to mention anything about the chase that has put me to shame. But there's still the problem of Tanya still being on the loose and can strike again…

My grin disappears from my snout and I look at Sabre seriously, it's now or never.

"Do you mind contacting one of your classmates? The leader is an abandoned pet and she's way too determined to ever stop her advance. She wants me to change for the better and she thinks that she's the 'key'."

Sabre's grin disappears as well, but that's when he hears the word 'classmates' come from my mouth. But after my explanation to why, he emits a small chuckle in amusement while getting an evil glint in his eye.

"So you want me to give her a master so that she won't bother you anymore? Heh, and how do you expect her to accept it?"

I think he already knows what I'll answer, but he decides to ask that question anyway. I too get an evil glint in my eye as i answer.

"Easy, I lie and say that she's our traveling companion. She would jump on the opportunity and won't be able to see through the bluff."

Sabre and I share an evil grin while thinking the same thought.

-I'm so glad that it's you who is my partner.-

* * *

><p>Well, what do you think? Have my writing skills improved? I think my grammar correcting became sloppier at the end, but I'm not really sure… I hope you enjoyed a whole chapter in Garel's POV, I also hope that I showed you how much alike Sabre and Garel are in a few ways.<p>

Heng Shi: I finally got you now… I haven't forgotten about what you did to me a long time ago, you really hurt my pride… Don't worry, I won't kill you… I'll only torture you until you wish you were…

-Looks over to Heng Shi who's talking to thin air while holding up an imaginary person in the air- Well, my plan went better than expected. Seishirou Hitsugaya, I'm thankful that you worried about me when I told you that I would release Heng Shi. But like I said, he can't hurt me with my awesome computer at my disposal! –Suddenly becomes very depressed and afraid- But that sure was a close call… Had I just been one second late with my illusion, he would have grabbed me around the neck instead of thin air… I'll never do that again, please remind me of that if my guilt ever gets the best of me… -Shivers in fright over the reminder when Heng Shi came loose from his chains and almost grabbed me-

Heng Shi: -Has a wicked grin on his face he's looking at 'me' when I 'struggle for breathing' since he's holding a firm grip around my 'neck'- Hehe, well, how do you like that? Not being able to defend yourself now that you can't call for help or tap something on the weird thing you have that seem to control this place. Now I'm in control… Oh, and you haven't had any broken bones before, right? How about we change that…

Hehehe… -Slowly backs away from the crazy Heng Shi- That could have been me… I'm glad that the illusion worked just in time… Well, anyway. I hope you all enjoyed the one-shot with Garel as the main character. This story was created about four years ago but was posted on Fanfiction 8/22/2011, this chapter was a celebration for that this story was posted one year (or is it two now…) ago and I hope that I'll be able to write a birthday chapter this year that will be in time and not many months later. ^^ I'll see you soon! :D


	23. Final winner and unexpected meeting

Hi everyone! How are you? Have you missed me?

Heng Shi: LET ME GO! DAMN YOU, SEADEVIL! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE TOLD HER ANYTHING! I'LL KILL YOU!

-Hits Heng Shi on the head with my awesome giant hammer- Shut up! It's your own fault for taking a vacation without my permission! If it weren't for your fear, we would have never caught you! I was thinking about giving you some vacation to get away from being tied to a chair, but now you've missed your chance!

SeaDevil: That's what you get from threatening me! We also have the awesome power of the computer on our side!

Heng Shi: BUT THIS IS TOO MUCH! I'VE BEEN TIED TO THIS THING FOR ALMOST HALF A YEAR! –tries to wriggle out of the chains that are binding him this time, encirclinghis feet, hands and torso- LET ME GO!

Like I said, you missed your chance to temporary freedom! You'll only be free when I say so or after a loooooooong time when this story's over!

Heng Shi: Then I hope it ends really soon! I hate being your character!

-sits down in a corner to grow mushrooms, acting like I haven't heard what Heng Shi said- I don't want this story to eeeeeeeend! I want to torture Heng Shi foreveeeeeer! (Heng Shi: HEY!) I hope it takes a few years until I end this story… I really enjoy writing it… T-T

Heng Shi: Shut up, you're annoying!

SeaDevil: Well, now that the mission of capturing Heng Shi has been successful**,** it's time for me to go. (Heng Shi: Stop ignoring me!) I hope you readers like Bun-bun's chapter and continue to support her with your reviews. Bye~!

Heng Shi: Why didn't you go immediately then?_!_ And it's either mine or the idiot's role to tell the readers to start reading!

-becomes revived at the mention of reviews- Yeah, Fishy-chan's right! Have fun reading! ^^

Heng Shi: Stop ignoring me, damn it! I'll kill you all! Readers, don't start with the story until I manage to get these idiots' attention! Oh, no you don't! I said not to read the chapter! Stop it-!

* * *

><p>If I were to describe the tournament final in one word, it would be either 'exciting' or 'beautiful'. I can't really decide between the two. The players are killing each other, light pillars disappearing into the sky one after another, blood is splattered on the ground and the players' clothes, and just before the players die they get amost enjoyable look of fear on their faces.<p>

It's thrilling to watch, but it would feel even better to be down there myself, killing everyone in sight. Too bad that you have to be a part of a team to participate, or else I would have beaten the crap out of every person I encountered.

But I can create my own massacre whenever I want, so I won't complain... for now.

And I must say that Prince's team is doing a very good job at surviving. At first, they only avoided every fight that they could possibly avoid, but then Prince decided to help the human alliance so that it will be a little more even between them and the holyman alliance when they eventually clash.

As I observed this**,** the announcer said that there only were 100 players left and that the human alliance was at a disadvantage. He also decided to point out Prince's location on the arena, making all the players turn towards him and his small team. I sniggered at Prince's panicked face and gripped the hilt of my sword tighter. I could sense a big battle approaching, and from the concentrated looks on Prince's two allied mages' faces as they chanted, two powerful spells seemed to be coming up as well.

As the spells are released, Prince suddenly runs into the magic attack and comes out again with a person over his shoulder. What is he doing? Did he seriously just run into a deadly battlefield just to bring out one single person?

Is he asking his priest to heal the person? Why help his enemy? And now he helps another one? What the hell is he doing?_!_

I sigh tiredly and shake my head; I'll never be able to understand a compassionate guy… I might as well stop asking myself such questions in the first place, it'll just give me a headache…

"Oh, oh, oh! It's started! 12 healthy ones now go against 20+ injured! Both sides are not backing down! Slaughter! It's a one-sided killing spree! Everyone keep your eyes open! Just who will win?"

When I hear the announcer's voice, I once again direct my focus towards the arena. The two alliance leaders are having an impressive battle, but all the others have been wiped out; except for Odd Squad and Dark Phantom, that is. We'll now see who'll win this tournament in a final battle between allies.

A grin slowlyappears on my face as Prince holds out his sword towards Dark Phantom's warrior; now I'll be able to see how much my training has helped Prince improve. But why is his opponent hesitating?

"Woah! Even the holy knight Fan has died!"

As I look to the two leaders' battle, I can see the ponytailed guy stand there alone while a ray of light flies up into the sky towards the rebirth point. I raise my eyebrow in interest as the surviving leader slowly walks over to where Prince is standing with a serious look on his face. Is the ponytailed guy about to challenge Prince?

But instead of attacking Prince like I thought he would, the man stops a few feet away from him and begins to talk. No one can hear what he's saying, but I can see even from this distance that Dark Phantom's warrior is growing angry.

I smirk in satisfaction as I see the ponytailed leader's blood splatter out from his stab wound in the middle of his stomach. The Dark Phantom warrior had apparently decided to kill him; well, try anyway, asthe stab didn't kill the man completely – but an arrow in the head from an equally furious purple-haired bard sure did.

Without any further ado, Prince once again points his sword towards the white-hairedwarrior and challenges him to a fight. The warrior once again hesitates to hold up his sword, but once he does, it seems to become the signal for the fightbetween the two teams to begin.

Thief against thief, warrior against warrior, necromancer against another warrior while the mages, sharpshooters and priests are protected by a barrier the mages are creating.

But it's the warriors**'** fight I'm interested in; I ignore the crowd's cheers and the announcer's voice to be able to concentrate on how the two warriors move.

It's a tie between the two of them; they block each other's blows and neither of them have succeeded in touching the other. But I can notice that Prince is becoming too engrossed in the fight to focus on anything elseother than the opponent in front of him. If he doesn't snap out of it soon**,** anyone will easily be able to land a sneak attack on him and kill him.

And it seems as if I wasn't the only one to see that, asI notice the archer from team Phantom point an arrow at Prince and fire. _Now, let's see if Prince manages to notice it before it hits him…_

I watch in satisfaction as Prince quickly moves his leg backwards to make the arrow miss his knee. He has actually learned something… but the bad thing about dodging that arrow was that he now has lost his balance, causing him to fall to the ground and land on his side.

The archer shoots more arrows and Prince does a flip to dodge them, but one arrow hits his shoulder. This should have giventhe white-haired warrior a perfect opportunityto attack Prince, but he just stands completely still, looking down at Prince in what seems to be worry.

Prince becomes angry – probably because the white-haired man is going easy on him – and quickly swings his black dao at the frozen man. The dark elf gets a small cut, but nothing serious. Prince getsup to his feet again, withhis blade covered in flames, ready to unleash what looked like a powerful attack.

The dark elf also seemed to be preparing for a powerful attack and as the two clash with each other, I lean forward in my seat, wanting tosee who the winner is. The sight makes me frown in disappointment.

Both of them have stab wounds, one more serious than the other; the white-haired man is stabbed in his shoulder while Prince is stabbed very close to, or in, his kidney. Judging from that, it seems like the dark elf is the winner of this battle.

Gui, noticing that 'his Prince' is in danger, shoots two arrows at the dark elf warrior; one in his head, the other in his stomach. The white-haired warrior disappears in a flashing light by the two fatal shots. As a shadow appears behind Prince, Gui shouts out to him in warning.

Prince – most likely due to the fact that his pain tolerance has been getting better through our training – quickly manages to bring his weapon to his back just in time to block the sword that was about to kill him. But since the casual clothed man attacking him is in the air, he can put more power behind his swing, as he is being aided by his weight. The force behind the sword is too strong for Prince to be able to hold it back, and he's sent to the ground with his blade flying away from his grip. Prince gets a thin cut along his back, but he's still alive.

The man is about to finish his job when an arrow from Gui stops him and he's forced to jump backwards. Prince slowly staggers to his feet, having gripped his sword on his way up, and looks around to see how the battle's going. Just when he's about to go after the black-haired swordsman who tried to kill him recently, a bright light shines over the arena.

It's two powerful magic spells that have clashed and are preparing to descend upon the arena.

I'm not able to see anything more after the spells hit the ground, but when the dust finally clears up, I can see one person standing in the middle of the arena. It's the casual-clothed swordsman, burned and barely standing.

I sigh in disappointment, partly due to the fight being over and partly because Odd Squad didn't win. But as I'm about to stand up with my sword and walk away, Garel nudges me with the tip of his spiked tail and points towards the arena.

I pause to look at the arena just as the thief from Odd Squad crawls out from the ground behind the man who is currently crying tears of joy. I chuckle slightly as the thief stomps down the barely alive man, thereby giving the victory to Odd Squad.

Now that the tournament is over, for real this time, I stand up from my seat, pull out my sword from the ground and jump over the few players that separate me from the stairs. I then place my sword in its rightful place on my back, and with Garel by my side I begin to walk out from the arena.

Now that I don't have to be in Star City anymore, I think that I'll go to another big city to see what's there…

* * *

><p>I sigh happily as I'm standing in the large area of blood that I've just created by killing a huge mob of monsters. I'm on my way towards Sun City and as I walked through the mountains, a huge mob of monsters blocked my way. So I decided to have some fun.<p>

I stab my sword into the ground next to a puddle of blood and bend down to take some of the blood on my fingers before walkingover to thenearby cliff side with the blood dripping off my fingers. Garel, already knowing that this will take a while, makes himself comfortable next to my sword, facing the opposite direction of me, justin case some more monsters – or players – try to attack.

I become lost in my own world the moment my bloodied fingers touch the uneven surface of the mountain, my fingers moving swiftly and expertly – just like they have always done throughout all of these years. I bend down from time to time to get more blood from the puddle and a small smile starts gracing my lips as I'm painting.

It takes about one and a half hours before I'm finally done and can step back to admire my work.

On the cliff wall is now a broken skull. The skull is lying on its side,crying tears of blood, with a knife embedded in its temple, cracks spreading from it across the half of the skull's 'face'. The eyehole with the cracks around it is a little narrowed by the outside,as if it's sad, while the side without cracks looks like it's angry, the inside drawn downwards in a frown. A puddle of blood lies underneath the skull and in front of its forehead is a withered flower.

Garel looks up at the me, andcliff I've painted on, when he hears my motions stop and cocks his head in confusion.

"What is it?" He asks me as he gets up to his feet to walk over to my side.

Still looking at my bloody work with a smile on my face, I answer him:

"It's a skull. You have to look at it in the right angle to be able to see the picture."

I and Garel look at the painting a little longer, but when I'm satisfied with watching, I walk over to my sword and pull it out from the ground. When I've once again placed it in its holster, we begin our walk towards Sun City.

At that moment in time, I didn't know that my painting would lead my enemies even closer towards me than they already were…

* * *

><p>At the moment, I'm sitting by a dango shop I recently discovered in Sun City, drinking some tea and eating like I usually do when I'm relaxing. I've already attracted a huge number of female fans; they started gathering the moment I stepped inside the city. It's really annoying, as usual, but there's nothing I can do about it, seeing that you can't change your character, and mine happens to be a bishie… If only females didn't like the killing type… Then my life in <em>Second Life<em> would be so much easier…

It took me about two days to walk to Sun City, but it's better than paying the traveling fee. Yes, I have a shit load of money, but I do not want to spend iton something as pathetic as traveling fees… Going by carriage or teleporting are only for the ones who don't have the power – or are too lazy – to walk there themselves.

I sigh tiredly as Garel scare away a few females that had gotten too close for comfort. girls are even more persistent that the ones in Star City…

I have to get away from them… I can't take all this attention while I'm eating. I stand up from my chair and look around me; the girls who are slowly getting closer to me. I eat up the last dango on my stick, put it down on the plate and look over to Garel. I wonder if he's big enough for me to fly on him… Nah, I doubt it. He still needs to grow a bit more for that to be possible.

I look around me once again, and seeing no other escape, I jump backwards and onto the rooftop of the dango shop. I quickly jump to another roof when I hear the girls whining at me to come back down. Garel flies up next to me and side by side we cross over the city with a horde of girls racing after us. A tick mark appears on Garel's forehead when he looks back and sees a few pets following as well. I chuckle silently at the bitter irony of even him gaining enough fame for it to be troublesome.

I furrow my brows in thought. If I could make Garel bigger somehow, it would solve our problem with having to stay near the ground. That way, we'd have much fewer, if any, girls following us in hope of getting a hug… or whatever they want to do with us… Maybe I can make him bigger with my mana? I can give it a try at least.

I look into Garel's eye, silently telling him to get closer with a small twitch of my head. He understands and swervesa bit closer to me while still beating his wings to keep from falling behind. I reach out with my hand and touch his head, making my mana travel over to him in small sparkles as I'm trying to make him bigger. Surprisingly, it works and he grows slowly as I'm pouring my mana inside of him.

When his body is slightly bigger than a car, I stop the flow of mana and motion for him to glide down a little so that I can jump on. He does just thatwhile I transform my heavy blade into its pistol form.

I jump away from the roof and onto Garel's back with my pistol in hand. I land by the base of his neck, between two green spikes, holding onto the spike in front of me to keep my balance as Garel wobbles slightly due to the sudden weight. But he keeps himself in the air, albeit with a slightly lower altitude than before. I clutch the spike harder as he flaps his large wings strongly to keep us aloft.

Once he gets used to my weight, he manages to get us high up into the air; so high up that the people on the streets look like small ants. I give Garel's necka small pet as praise, silently telling him that he did a really good job. I'm proud that he managed to carry my weight this high into the air. Maybe he won't grow anymore, maybe I have to pour mana into him for Garel to become big enough for me to fly on him? At least I don't have to use my time energy to make him bigger, that's a big relief.

But I wonder... Doesn't a pet need a skill to be able to grow like this? I don't think he has that type of skill... But how could he grow like he just did if he didn't? Maybe I should check it out, I mean, I've gained a lot of weird skills during the time I've played second life, so it is entirely possible that Garel would have done the same. But I've never bothered to look at them all, just skimmed over the ones that can serve me in battle.

I call out 'system' and my stat window appears in front of me. I'm not interested in my own stats at the moment, so I call out 'Garel's stats' to make my pet's window open up. Huh, he's at level 59, that's good. Although... I thought that he was at a much higher level, but it does seem understandable in a way, since it gets much harder to level up the higher the level you have, with pets having it even harder as they need much more experience to do so than players to start with.

I take a look at Garel's skills, listing them quietly inside my head. _Flame explosion... Flamethrower... Poison claw... Wait, what's this? Steed Growth? What's that?_

I press on the unfamiliar skill and read out loud what my dragon can use it for.

"'When the player adds it's mana to a pet who has gained this skill, the pet can grow in size, but only if the player is touching said pet and actively contributing with their mana; the pet cannot grow on its own accord.' Huh, so that's what it does... I had no idea... Well, now that I know of it, I'll make sure to use it more often."

Garel snorts and spout two small flames from his nostrils in agreement but keeps his focus on holding us airborne and away from the hordes of fangirls below.

I wonder if those fangirls will ever see sense and stop liking me… I am probably the most evil guy there is in _Second Life_, yet they follow me and squeal when I scare others…. And my classmates, they are also a problem. If they see me here (and realize who I am), I willhave to come up with an explanation as towhy I am like I am here, or else they will think that I'm crazy. I'll need some kind of excuse for my behaviour, so that they won't suspect me of being a real killer and call the police or something like that. They won't be able to find out that I'm an assassin, of that much I can be sure, but they could start questioning me, and maybe search through my home. That would be really bothersome…

Something else that's bothersome is 'Jing' trying to figure out who, and what, I am.

I still wonder how she got all those photos of me, especially the original one. I'm glad that the security system that my father created activelyworks to hide my more sensitive information, but there is only so much that it can do, and I'm upset that those pictures can now be shown to the whole council if she deems it necessary. And there's also the problem that if I'm not allowed to kill during some of the missions, my attacks will start happening during school, which would raise a lot of worry, and inquisitive nosiness, from the students…

I growl angrily as I lean back slightly, letting the wind blow through my hair freely as we continue to sail through the sky. Why must my life be so complicated? I have to hide everything, not that I mind _that_, but I have to put up with socialising with people while doing it! That is what is getting on my nerves. But the worst thing is that I can't get rid of the ones who irritate me! It's annoying as hell!

All I want to do is fulfil my final purpose, but can I do that in peace? Nooooo, I have to put up with all of this, not to mention that I'm also being hunted down to be killed! I just want to do one last thing but all of this shit is making it so much harder! Why can't Jing just leave me alone?_!_

I sigh tiredly while shaking my head, trying to get rid of all the thoughts plaguing my mind. I've never liked thinking about things too much, but it has started happening more recently; ever since I ran away from my life as anassassin. It gives me one hell of a headache sometimes…

I better eat some dango to calm down; it has always helped me through my stress…

With that thought in mind, I pat Garel's side and point down at a small nearby city. There must be a dango shop there, or else I will be disappointed. I'm beginning to suspect that I have a too much of a sweet tooth sometimes…

* * *

><p>The loud beeping of my alarm clock wakes me up and I quickly push the 'snooze' button to stop the annoying sound. I remove my game console tiredly and place it on my bedside table while staring up at the white ceiling. There was something special happening today… What was it again?<p>

I look at my black wall, trailing the green stalks on it with my gaze in hope of remembering what was so special about today. Is it some special assignment that's supposed to be done today? Or is it just a feeling I have?

I decide to ignore the feeling for now and begin to rise up from my bed while yawning loudly. I slowly walk out from my room and towards the kitchen to cook some breakfast. As I'm passing by the calendar that's hanging on the wall in the kitchen, I decide to look at the date to see if there really is something special happening today.

I stare at the calendar for a while, not completely processing what it says with my mind still half-asleep. Sunday… Fuck, I woke up early on a holiday… Oh, well. Might as well stay up then; I was thinking of doing some housecleaning anyway. It was about two weeks since I last cleaned the house**, **and it was starting to show.

I open the fridge to see if there's still some breakfast left, but to my disappointment, there's barely anything there. Just a package of milk, some eggs, a few ham slices and a little cheese left; just enough to make an omelette…

-Sigh- I guess shopping is the priority for today… I'll go out after breakfast.

I pick out the few items I have left in my fridge, close the door with my foot and place the ingredients on the counter to begin cooking. The feeling of this day being something special is still there even after I've finished my cooking and have begun eating… I wonder what it means… Oh, well. I might find out later, when I go shopping.

It feels like someone is following me… Have they caught up to me already? I thought that the town the organization is in would be the last place they'd look. Everyone knows that when you're a traitor to an organization of assassins, you shouldn't stay in the same town; that's justcommon sense.

So by going completely against this common sense, I had hoped to throw them off of my track for a while. I certainly hadn't thought that they would pick up on my thinking so quickly… I hope it's just a fangirl, but I really doubt it…

Just a few steps ahead of me, I can see a teenage girl with her brown hair tied up in a ponytail struggle with carrying the weight of theshopping bags she's holding in both hands. I smirk inwardly; that girl would be perfect in driving awaymy pursuer – for now, at least.

I look down at the ground, pretending to be deep in thought, and bump into the girl's shoulder, sending a few droplets of time energy into her arm and down to her fingers to make her lose her grip on the shopping bags by momentarily freezing the nerves in said body part. It works and the girl stumbles to the ground while dropping her bags, making their contents scatter on the concrete ground.

I turn around, as if surprised, and immediately put on my face-mask, making a worried face as I look down at the girl.

"Oh, no. I'm sorry, are you alright?"

I ask her in a worried tone while sitting down on my knees to help the girl. The girl winceswhen she hears my voice and slowly turns her head around, her whole body language almost screaming that she was afraid of me. When she looks into my eyes, her brownones widen a little in shock and fear. She's become paralyzed… I wonder why…

I look at the different goods that are scattered across the pavement; thankfully for her, all of them are still intact. I take her shopping bag and begin to put the items back where they belong while speaking to the girl beside me.

"I'm sorry I bumped into you, I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't notice where I was going…"

The girl slowly sits up while still staring at me in shock as I continue to pick up all the items. Slowly recovering, she comes to her senses and begin to pick up some of the items as well, putting them in the second bag.

"N-no, i-it's alright! I wasn't looking either!"

She sounds panicked; I wonder why she's afraid of me... Have we met in _Second Life, _whereI've done something to terrify her? She does look familiar… Maybe I'll just check.

Almost all of the goods are picked up except for one package of rice; I use this opportunity to reach out for it at the same time the girl does and the moment she touches my hand, I quickly go through some of hermemories which seem to belong to _Second Life_. I can see some quick flashes of me attacking the girl with my blade in katana form before arriving at the latest memory concerning me; I slow down, seeing myself very close to her face while smirking in amusement.

Coming back to reality, only a split second had passed and I drew my hand back from hers, looking at the girl with a nervous smile.

"Sorry." I say in fake embarrassment while picking up the rice package and placing it in the bag that I'm holding. The girl is holding her hand close to her chest while looking at me with a slight blush on her face. Since there aren't a lot of people whom I've spared in _Second Life_, and only one, really, that would behave in the same way that the girl had done so far, I quickly come tothe conclusion that this girl must be Prince. It seems really weird, since _Second Life_ shouldn't be allowing anyone to play as the opposite sex, but it would give me a more logical reason asto why Prince blushed when we came so close at the end of the spar. Also, memories don't lie. And besides, Bolin has changed sex as well, so it is completely believable that another person would get the same exception.

I stand up with the shopping bag in hand, pretending to be surprised by the weight as I look down at it.

"Woah, this is one heavy shopping bag. If the other one is this heavy, it'sno wonder you lost your balance so easily."

'Prince' still hasn't moved from her position on the ground, nor has she taken her eyes off me. She went through a flashback when I looked through her memories, so maybe she's thinking back to that moment where I got so close to her? I raise an eyebrow in pretended confusion at her expression, which makes her embarrassed for being caught staring and she turns even redder than before.

I shake my head with a smile and stretch out my hand towards her to help her up on her feet. She looks at my hand and then back up at my face, as if doubting whether she should take my help or not. My smile grows into a grin and I say jokingly:

"Come on, you can't stay on the ground all day, right? People might walk on you since they can't see you down there."

'Prince' finally takes my hand and I easily pull her up to her feet, taking a step back so that I won't be crowding her personal space – nor she mine, for that matter. 'Prince' forgot to take the second shopping bag up from the ground with her, so I bend down and take it in my unoccupied hand. I grin cheekily at her, a little annoyed that here, outside _Second Life, _I'm at the eye height of a girl. Again...

"Well, go ahead and lead the way miss."

"H-huh?" 'Prince' asks me dumbly while taking a cautious step back.

I wink at her with my cheeky grin still on, making my image right now seem laid back.

"Come on, I can't let you carry these bags. It isn't healthy for a young lady to carry heavy things, you know. You might get back problems in the future."

'Prince' seems to get my hidden message and becomesoffended at beingcalled 'weak', crossing her arms while glaring at me.

"I'm sure I'll be just fine. Thank you for the offer but I'll do this by myself."

I smirk in amusement, like I've done so many times before in _Second Life -_but without any malice behind it this time - and hand over her bags. When she takes them, I purposefully let go of them too fast, causing her to struggle to keep them above the ground. I place my hands inside the pockets of my jeans while staring at her with a smug grin.

"Hmm~? And you were saying you were going to be fine? It sure doesn't look like it; you'll probably wobble your way home."

'Prince' grunts in effort and determinedly stomps past me, not answering me. I sigh in annoyance; my pursuer is still watching me, so I have to go with this girl. But how can I convince her to let me carry her bags if she knows me as the brutal killer Sabre?

...Do I really have to be all sentimental? ...Yep, that's my only choice right now… I really hate acting like this…

"Hey, wait up!"

'Prince' winces when she hears my voice and stops, as if she's worried about something. It's probably because she thinks that I'm going to try to kill her or something like that, but even if that may usually bethe case, it isn't this time. This time… I have to be nice…

I stop just a few feet behind her and sigh tiredly to begin this sentimental... thing, for lack of a better word.

"I'm sorry if I've ever scared you in _Second Life_…"

'Prince' stiffens up even more but she still doesn't turn around, soI decide to continue talking.

"I know that everyone fears me as 'Pure Lightning' there,but you don't have to worry about that here in real life."

I walk over to stand next to the girl and flash a bright grin towards her.

"Here, I'm just a regular guy who likes to help people. So, since I knocked you down, let me at least repay you with carrying those heavy bags."

A bright blush once again covers her face as she finally gives in andhand over the bags to me.

"O-ok, then. You can help me… You aren't one of those creepy types who harass the girls you help, right?"

I look at her dumbly while taking the bags from her shaking hands.

"Seriously? What would I gain in doing that? I can get any girl I want with this face."

I look off to the side with a twitching eyebrow, as if I'm imagining something very irritating. Which I am.

"Though it gets really irritating in _Second Life_… Females are totally crazy there… Why do so many love a cold hearted bastard that's killing everyone in sight? I thought it would save me the trouble of getting fangirls, but nooo. There are even more of them now…"

'Prince' giggles a little while beginning to walk towards her house with me following beside her.

"Yeah, I know the feeling. I'm constantly afraid of getting trampled when I'm without my teammates. It's really scary to have a whole horde of girls wanting to rape or harass me."

I blink at her in surprise, as if just realizing something and lean closer to her to get a better look on her face while I'm narrowing my eyes. She notices my sudden closeness and when she realizes what she just said, she decides to play dumb with me while sweating furiously.

"W-what's wrong?"

I snap my eyes open and a big grin stretches over my face while I'm leaning away from her.

"Oh, no. It's nothing student, I just realized who you are in the game, no big deal."

'Prince' freezes in place as if she's suddenlymade of stone, but I continue walking forward with the big grin becoming evenlarger.

"Now I also understand the real reason behind why you blushed during our spar. It isn't because you're gay, but because you're a girl. That makes a lot more sense. No wonder you looked so afraid of me; you've experienced my wrath many times."

'Prince' finally seems to get a hold of herself as she suddenly runs up next to me, panicking.

"Wait, don't tell anyone, ok? It would be really bad if everyone found out that I was him, especially my teammates! So please, Lao Shi, keep this a secret."

I stop in my tracks and let a little bit of my real personality show as I glare at the girl from the corner of my eyes. She begins to sweat a little in fright at seeing my glare, even if it's just at half of its usual power.

"Don't tell me what to do…"

She nods mutely and at that confirmation, I continue walking with a smirk on my face and my real personality hidden underneath my face mask.

"But really, what would I gain by keeping your identity a secret? It has to be something good if I'm going to haveto resist the temptation of telling people just to see their reactions."

She begins to sweat nervously and looks down on the ground as she's thinking hard with one finger covering her mouth. I wonder what she'll come up with… A deal that can make me more comfortable inside the game would be good.

I smirk in contentment as I think over the different things that she can give me now that she has a city. Maybe she'll give me my own private dango shop, in a dark back alley where I'll be all alone. Or maybe I can have slaves… that would be awesome since I'dbe able to have them do all the boring stuff, and thenkill them whenever I want.

I snap out from my thoughts as 'Prince' begins to talk to me with a hushed voice, as if she's afraid that someone she knows listens to our conversation.

"W-well, how about some money?"

I look to the side with an eye-roll.

"I already have enough as it is. I have so much that I don't know what to spend it all on."

"Ehm… Alright, how about some teammates?"

I glare at her, once again showing a glimpse of my real side. She shudders in fear but still keeps up with my calm strides as we walk.

"I'm a solo player, having teammates would be a nuisance. Besides, because of my reputation and actions, I doubt that anyone would want to be my teammate other than Garel."

"How about… Living in the castle…?"

I look at her in slight shock before a big grin stretches over my features. I thought she would agree to a simple house, but to live in the castle? No one would ever expect me to live there, and even if they did, it'd be very hard for them to get inside. That would be the perfect resting place.

I put both shopping bags in my left hand, leaving the right one free tohold out to 'Prince' with my grin stretching even further.

"You've got yourself a deal."

Hesitantly, 'Prince' takes my hand in hers and gives it a shake with a depressed aura hanging around her. She's mumbling something about 'Lolidragon killing her' but I pretend that I don't hear and switch one shopping bags back to my right hand. I tap her forehead with one of my fingers while still holding onto the bag, startling her out of her deep thoughts. I look at her with a bored expression.

"How much longeris it until we get to your house?"

'Prince' blinks in confusion, since she obviously forgot the whole 'walking home with Sabre helping out with carrying the shopping bags' thing after having had her identity as Prince discovered. She looks around and seems to remember the place quickly asshe points over to the next house.

"I live over there."

I look up at the extremely normal-looking multistorey building, immediately figuring out that she must live in an apartment like I do. I nod my head and begin to walk towards the door with 'Prince' following silently behind me, probably remembering our deal and the possible consequences of it as she seems to become depressed again.

For some reason**, **it makes me annoyed that she seems so depressed over such a small thing; I mean, I won't even come to the castle very often.

"Hey, why are you so depressed about me living in your castle? Shouldn't you be happy to see a hottie like me from time to time?"

She blushes slightly at my comment, but it doesn't seem affect her aura at all.

"No, it's not that. It's just, now that you'll live there, you'll try to terrify the city'sinhabitants. And that would give it a bad reputation. Also, you'll try to kill me every chance you get and my teammates won't like that I let a psychopath live inside the castle."

I furrow my eyebrows in irritation and look at her over my shoulder as I open the door to the apartment building.

"Hey, I might have a personality problem, but I'm sure as hell not dumb, if that's what you're saying. I won't come there often, just sometimes to get away from all the girls chasing after me. Also, I don't have to terrify people; it's just a way to keep myself entertained. If I'm in your city, I'll take that time to relax and be alone before I go to other cities to scare players, kill monsters etc. I would only go out from my room if I wereabout to leave or go to a dango shop - which I hope there will be in your city. Nothing else. As long as people leave me alone, I won't cause any trouble."

I let 'Prince' lead the wayup the stairs and we once again become silent. Everything I said was actually true; as long as no one bothers me, I won't cause any trouble in the city. I just hope that my fangirls won't find out about me living there…

'Prince' stops in front of a door with the number xxx on itand cautiously opens the door while peering inside. I become so annoyed at her forbeing so careful about being seen with me that I forcefully open the door with my foot and step inside without her approval. I place the shopping bags on the floor of their small hall and turn towards her shocked face with a grin.

"Well, that's that. You really should be careful about buying too much food for you to handle alone, it isn't good for you to carry bags that are heavy enough to make you wobble all the way home."

'Prince' tenses up when a male voice says in a snappy tone from behind me:

"Who are you?"

I turn around slowlyand settle my yellow eyes upon the boy behind me. When the brown eyed boy sees my face, he tenses up and I can see a flicker of fear run over his face before it quickly turns into anger and worry. I think this boy must be 'Prince's' brother, possibly twin,since they look incredibly muchalike and seem to be of the same age.

I do not think that he is aware of it, but he gets into a fighting stance, as if he's in the game. It takes a moment, but as I saw it so recently**, **I can recognize the posture as that of Dark Phantom's brown haired swordsman. I decide to pretend that I didn't see itand stay relaxed as I point at myself with a surprised face.

"Me? Well, I'm Heng Ru Shi. I just helped your sister out with carrying her shopping bags. You shouldn't let her shop so much when she can't carry it by herself. I just bumped into her a little and she dropped everything. If I hadn't helped her, she would have probably hurt her back while coming here."

The 'swordsman' looks shocked that I'm showing an emotion other than malice, bloodlust or... well, any of the emotions I show in _Second Life, _really_._ His gaze shifts over to his sister who's standing next to me, as if wanting to make sure that she's really there and not dead. She waves towards him nervously and I take that as a sign to leave.

I walk towards the opened door with my hands resting lazily in my pockets.

"Well, now that that's over, I better leave, since I hadn't exactly planned on staying. Bye."

As I'm about to step out of the apartment, the boy calls out to me.

"Hey, you. Wait."

I look over my shoulder with an eyebrow raised in interest as to the reason behind why he's stopping me from leaving.

"What is it?" I ask him while meeting his determined gaze. He gulps one time before he begins to speak.

"You're Sabre, right? From the game."

I turn around so that I'm facing him and cross my arms over my chest while my eyebrow rises further.

"Yes… What of it?"

"How come you helped my sister? That doesn't seem like you at all. Your killing intent is so real that I was sure that you're a killer in real life. How can you seem so normal?"

I sigh tiredly at his question and scratch my head in frustration. It's easier to act like this than being polite, like I am at school... I should have chosen this act instead from the beginning.

"Why is it that everyone becomes so surprised…? Alright, here's how it is. I have a two personalities; one is a normal guy who likes to help people, while the other is a complete bastard and a killer. Before, I had problems in controlling my temper and stuff so I've killed people while enjoying it, yes. But now that I'm using the killer personality in _Second Life_, I have an easier time of sticking to my other personality – the nice one – in real life. That's why I'm so different right now compared to how I am in the game. I also thought that if I used my killer personality in _Second Life_, the fangirls would leave me alone. So the reasons behind me using it there is to 1: not lose my control in real life and 2: try and get rid of the fangirls, which obviously didn't work. Does that answer your question?"

When I look at the two of them, they nod nervously while the boy stutters out a surprised "Y-yeah" I nod happily and back out into the stairwell while smiling at them.

"Good. Now then; goodbye to you two. And please bear in mind that the me here and the me in the game are totally different persons, so don't mix us up, alright?"

They nod to confirm that they understand and I close the door behind me with a wave. The moment I turn away from said door, my expression turns blank. It's a good thing that I came up with that lie; it makes much more sense than it being justan 'image' that I like killing people. I could also use it if I everhave to explain my behaviour to my classmates, even the former captain, whom I still haven't explained myself to.

Well, time to go shopping. I hope that my pursuer has given up...

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><p>Well, how do you like my change in the tournament? Acceptable? And I bet you're wondering what his goal is, but I won't tell anyone anytime soon! And you got to 'see' some more paintings from Sabre as well as his evil old self. And what did you think about the meeting between Heng Shi and Feng Lan? Was it good? :)<p>

Heng shi: So, now I'll interact with Prince in real life as well?

You'll have to find that out in a future chapter.

Heng Shi: -eyebrow twitching- Why do you make me have so many fan-girls?

You'll have to find that out in a non-existent chapter.

Heng Shi: -gives me an angry glare- Why am I even talking to you…

You'll have to find that out in the very last chapter.

Heng Shi: Damn it woman! Stop talking about those damn chapters!"

-gives Heng Shi a dark smile- Stop talking.

Heng Shi: … -Sweating a little-

I'll see you readers next chapter! Bye~! ^^

Heng Shi: -mumbling- (I thought I told you to not talk about chapters…)


	24. A cemetery visit

Hi everyone! I'm back with a new chapter! :D I'm sorry that I haven't been updating earlier, but I've been a little busy with those last weeks in school and then I had to sew the cosplay I would have during a convention. ^^"

Heng shi: Yeah, yeah. You can say anything you want but we all know that it's just because you're plain lazy. You could have written a lot since you didn't have any homework left but instead of working on this one, you worked on a completely new idea you have. You seriously have to stop writing new fanfictions all the time and continue on the ones you're actually posting.

S-shut up! It's not easy you know! Once I have an idea, I have to write it down so I don't forget it, but once I start writing I can't stop!

Heng shi: Yeah, yeah, whatever. Can you let me out from the chair now?

No, not until you promise to be nice. And even if you say that you'll promise, I can't trust you. I know how you are and you'll use any opportunity to back-stab me.

Heng shi: Well, it was worth a try at least…

Alright, now you people go on and read the story, alright? ^^ Oh and **read the end author note!** I will ask you guys about the birthday chapter there! Enjoy~! :D

(Heng shi: She was really lazy when she corrected this chapter. That idiot wanted to post this as soon as possible.)

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><p>I'm lying in my bed at night, staring up at the roof in thought. I can't seem to settle down and sleep even if I put my game console on, this feeling that I'm forgetting something has kept on nagging me for the whole day. I can't remember that something special is happening today, tough. It's Sunday, May the 17th, but I can't figure out what I'm missing. I've shopped groceries and cleaned the house, taken out the trash and done all my homework that I had left to get my mind off that nagging feeling. But now that I'm about to go to sleep, I can't ignore that empty feeling anymore.<p>

I sigh in annoyance as I sit up straight in my bed, my grey covers sliding off my bare chest to reveal the many scars adoring my torso. What is so special about today? What has happened in the past on this day? Does it have to do something with the organisation? I shouldn't care about that since I've been banned from Xian Hong, but something tells me that this matter is much more important than anything related to that organisation.

I groan loudly, ruffling my hair as if it can help me remember what I'm forgetting. Does it have anything to do with second life? No, that can't be it… Man, this is so frustrating! I sigh again and stand up from my bed; I'll never be able to sleep with this feeling nagging inside me. I might as well do an all-nighter and do something to keep me occupied. But the question is what… Maybe surfing on the internet will keep me awake.

I'm walking towards the school with my uniform on, my spiky hair in even more of a mess and tired bags under my eyes due to staying up the whole night. The bags aren't as dark as they were this morning since I drank a lot of coffee and washed my face many times, but it's still noticeable if you look at my face up close. I yawn loudly as I walk through the gates to the school ground, rubbing away the tired tears in the corner of my eyes and ignoring the stares I get from other students. I never did remember what it was that I forgot yesterday and now I feel really guilty for some reason. Though my ocarina seems to give me some comfort… I have choir today, so I'll play a little to ease my nerves then.

I greet all the students politely, my image intact even though I'm dead tired thanks to the caffeine in my body. I work through the first two lessons somehow without falling asleep and when it's time for choir, I walk towards the rooftop. Though, much to my surprise, I meet Jing in the corridor towards the stairs, her ever emotionless face intact. I frown in annoyance as the guilty feeling grows stronger, but I decide to ignore it for the time being so that I can face the bitch without any unnecessary trouble.

I remove my mask completely since there isn't anyone else in the corridor and stop right in front of Jing so that she has to move to walk past me. Jing look blankly at me, her red eyes looking down at my dark bags underneath my eyes for a split second before her gaze meet mine.

"Move." She says simply with authority in her voice, as if she can order me around and I'll follow any order she gives me. My frown grows deeper by her order and my hands are twitching to strangle her, but I hold back for now since I have an important question to ask her.

"Shut up. When is the next mission?"

Jing smirks slightly at my question, her eyes showing amusement as she replies.

"Your resemblance to canines becomes ever more obvious, Heng Ru Shi. You really must curb your enthusiasm lest it becomes more pronounced."

I growl in anger, my fists shaking even harder in anger since she can't even answer a simple question without humiliating me. This in turn makes Jing's smirk to grow larger.

"We're moving out in two days, the same time as the last time. Don't be late."

I grin widely at the thought of killing again and I begin to relax since it's such a short time left. I nod and is about to move by her when I suddenly freeze up when I start to realise something. Mother...

I look up towards Jing for a short second, it all suddenly dawning on me as to why I felt like I missed something yesterday. With one single thought in mind, I quickly turn around and begin to run towards the exit of the school. _I forgot my mother__'s birthday! How stupid can I be?!_

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><p>I have to take the bus to the cemetery where my mother is, it takes about 40 minutes and I'm sure the choir has ended by now. I'll skip the rest of the day, that isn't as important as my mother anyway. I walk on the familiar path that leads towards the cemetery, the scenery having changed throughout the years. The trees have grown larger, the church have gotten larger from being remodelled two times, there are more grave stones, there are more flowers, it all has changed so much that I can barely recognise it as the place where my mother is buried if it weren't for the fact that I come here every year and see everything change slowly.<p>

My goal is the large tree that's in the middle of the cemetery, that's where my mother is. With a picture of my mother and my ocarina in my bag and a small bouquet of flowers in my hand, I'm prepared to celebrate my mother's birthday. I bought the bouquet on my way here since I know that she likes these flowers, they're her favourite. As I reach the base of the tree, I sit down on my knees to wipe away the dirt on the tree bark to reveal a text that's carved into the tree, the text being old and darkened by age but the last line being a little fresher than the others.

_Layna Kong_

_1873-1913_

_A precious wife and mother_

_Died out of a deadly disease_

_(Cancer)_

They didn't know what disease it was that she died of back then, but when I found out what it was, I risted it in myself. Even if they would've known what disease it was, they wouldn't be able to treat her in time with the technology they had. She would have died anyways. Standing in front of her grave one day late makes the guilty feeling inside me well up again. I can't believe that I forgot her birthday of all things…

I take off my backpack and put the purple lilies aside so that I can rummage through it in search for my mother's picture that I always carry with me. I take out my picture of her as well as my ocarina before I close the backpack again, putting it aside to my left for now. I lean the picture against the trees' roots underneath the text, placing the flowers in front of it and clap my hands in a traditional prayer. I pray silently first like I've always been told to do, but once that is done, I crawl over to the right of the photo to sit down on the grass and lean my back against the tree trunk while I look up towards the sky with a sheepish smile. I imagine my mother's smiling face in front of me as I start talking with my old fashioned speech I've always spoken with when my parents were alive. It's pure out of habit and it has never disappeared no matter how many years it has been.

"Greets mother. Sorry for coming one day late, I just don't believe it; I forgot your birthday of all things. But now that I am here, I wish you a happy birthday. I brought some of your favourite lilies; I didn't have enough bills last year but now that I do, I bought them this time even though they are a little late. It's unbelievable that it has been such a long time already… It feels blank when I think of how many years you and father have been gone…"

I close my eyes, a peaceful smile on my face as a small wind caress my cheek and plays with my hair. I look down towards the photo at my mother's smiling face, her blue eyes shining with health and happiness as she face the person looking at the picture.

"You always do that when I start speaking to you… Father too… Why are the two of you still present? Why aren't you moving on towards the other side? I think you two will feel swell if you do, then you could both be together. I will join you once I have bumped off all of them here."

A harsher wind twirl around me, almost making the flowers fly away but I quickly grab them before they do.

"Aight! Aight! Chill out! I just have your best interest in mind!"

The wind dies down, once again becoming a soft breeze and I breathe out in relief. I laugh slightly, a true laugh as I think back to how mom was when she was alive. I lean back on the tree trunk once again with the lilies in my hand and a fond smile on my face.

"No matter if you are alive or a spirit, you're still as freaky as always when you're angry. I remember one time when I asked if I could help you with the food in the kitchen instead of training, you were hella pissed when I balled up everything and you chased me out with a bunch of kitchen shives. I reckon I got my training after all."

The tree ruffles slightly above me, making a few leaves dangle down towards the ground. I look up towards the leaves, my smile growing into a grin as I laugh together with her. My mother and father have both different ways to express their feelings now that they're just spirits and can't touch me physically. Mother uses the wind and the tree to express different feelings while my father uses his own… special methods you could say.

I close my eyes while looking forward, shaking my head slightly at the thought of my father's way of expressing himself in spirit form.

"You and father have such different ways to express yourself in your spirit form. And I'm joyed that I made you laugh today, that hasn't occurred in a few years. I know you're blue about leaving me and dad, but you out of all janes should know that I'm a grown up man by now. Hell, I've been a big six about 13 times already, continuously repeating that growing up cycle time and time again. It's a drag but it's needed."

The wind blows through a hole in the tree which creates a small low-audible sound that's similar to the normal wailing sound the wind makes through a house when two windows are open. I smile brightly, opening my eyes again but this time staring into the ground.

"Please don't feel blue; it's not your fault. It was my decision to continue doing the cycle over and over since I still wanted to live in Xian Hong. I could have moved away and changed place when I had to if I wanted to avoid doing the cycle, but I didn't do that. So it's not necessary for you to feel sad about something I decided on back then. And I was planning to double-cross them at some point soon so now that Xian Hong has banned me by leaving me holding the bag, I can destroy it without having any second doubts. I'm quite certain that it was that sap Gin who gave away information to our enemies and then I became the fall guy for it. It's all good; it doesn't matter if I'm inside or outside the organisation."

Mother does the same thing again and I begin to get confused as to what she means. I sit there and think about it for a few minutes before I realise what she must mean and I decide to ask.

"Are you perhaps asking me why I wish to demolish the only thing I had close to a family for many years?" A soft wind strokes my cheek in confirmation; I smile in response and start to explain.

"It is true that I did consider them fairly similar to a family in the beginning, but I knew that I had to keep my distance so I never got as so close to them like the ones who I lived together with during my first cycle. I did see my friends' grandchildren grow up into someone who somewhat resembled them, but that doesn't mean that they're the same. And do you realise how corrupt the assassins have become now a days? Shnikies, even I have been affected by the corruption and that means it has a huge impact. But not in the same way as most people have been corrupted. They all reject their feelings and tell everyone that feelings make you weak. I do agree that feelings can be a drag if they can distract you from doing your job, but feelings are the things which make us who we are. Assassins aren't meant to be killing machines. No one knows that fact better than I do. I am the son of the one who started the first assassin's guild after all. That is why the assassin's society must be annihilated so that I can build it up to how it once was. Some assassins are taking out each other, which makes my job much easier. During this year, I have eliminated the rest of the organisations in India and France but I still have many organisations left until it is all cleaned up. Russia will be a drag since there are so many organisations there… And I still got… How many? 196 minus 75… 121 countries left including this one. Well, that's ducky… Now I feel like I have barely done any work at all. But Bloody rain got eliminated by a street gang some years ago without my intervention; I believe it was that piker organisation that pulled the strings to that event and I think I soon have to eliminate that one as well, they have started causing problems for me now. They are the most possible organisation who has started following me."

The wind blows through the tree hole again while it's ruffling the leaves in the tree; I recognise this as mother being confused. I raise an eyebrow while I'm placing my hands behind my head and look up towards the sky.

"Why are you're confused? I reckon that I already told you about all this… Is it that I'm the son of the one who created assassins? … No answer… Then I'm on the trolley. I suppose I must explain it to you again, please try to remember this time. This is how it is: father met you in that assassin's guild he would soon take over and calls Xian Hong, but before that he went back further in time to when the assassins would start appearing and he started the base for assassins there. That way, when he came back to you, you weren't as hurt as before since the assassin's code changed when father went back and your comrades didn't betray you when you were about to do the right thing. That way, they didn't try to kill you for it. He saved your life by creating the assassins. But, after father died and a pill man took his place, everything changed and more and more people forgot the true code for the assassins and the whole system changed. You don't know this because father told me about the incident after you died out of the disease. But I must ask, I told you about the incident five years ago, so have you forgotten about it or is your spirit starting to fade and forget memories? … No answer again? Then I'm on the trolley again. This is the reason why I'm telling you to move on, that way you won't disappear completely. You've been present for almost 390 years; it's too much for you. I will be fine, I promise. I won't feel lonely."

A strong wind rushes through the cemetery, strong but soft at the same time, I take this as a sign to leave and I place down the flowers in front of the tree roots. I carefully place the picture inside my backpack and stand up with my ocarina in hand to play the song I always play for her. As I'm about to play, I can see a cap is being blown my way and a small boy is running after it. My eyes widen when I recognise the face and hair of the boy. But I quickly compose myself as the red cap land next to my feet and I pick it up in fake curiosity. The boy run up to me, panting in exhaustion as he's looking up at me with innocent and slightly scared yellow eyes, shadowed slightly by his blue bangs. I hold up the cap in my left hand, the right one still holding onto my ocarina, and smile down at the boy. I have to stop speaking like an old man now, or else the boy will think I'm nuts.

"Is this yours?"

The boy nods tiredly, taking a few deep breaths before he starts talking innocently. He must be around 10 years old, maybe…

"Yeah, could I have it back, mister? That cap is very important to me."

I look at the cap in surprise, a sudden playful though coming to mind as I think what I can do in this situation to make things better in the future. I grin down at the boy with mischief shining in my eyes as I put the cap on my own head, it being a little too small for my head but it stays put at least.

"Really? Important in what way?"

The boy gets shocked when I put on his cap and he run towards me to try and grab me around my waist, but I easily step out of the way with my left hand holding the cap in place.

"P-please give that back! I-I got it from an important person!" He shouts out in embarrassment while still trying to chase after his precious cap as I continue to step away. I jump up high into the air, grab onto a sturdy branch and haul myself up into the tree with my feet dangling happily as I look down at the shocked boy.

"Really? Well, if it's so important, why don't you come up here and get it? It would be nice to have some company."

The boy gets nervous, looking around himself as if searching for something and he gets disappointed when he doesn't find what he's looking for. The boy then looks up towards me with a new resolve in his eyes, stomping angrily towards the tree trunk to prepare himself to climb up. I look down at him in amusement as he tries to climb up, but he always lose his footing and fall down again when he's about half way up. I decide that falling down four times is enough for him, or else he might lose his resolve to get his cap back. So when he's about to fall down for the fifth time, I reach out to him and command some invisible time energy to grab onto his hand and draw him towards my flesh one. The boy doesn't notice that the first hand wasn't a real one, so he smiles thankfully up at me once I've pulled him up to the branch that I'm standing on.

With a bright grin, I take off the boy's cap from my head and put it back where it belongs on his. I then point up towards two branches that are much higher up in the tree and barely visible behind all the other branches connected to the tree trunk. The boy looks up to where I'm pointing in curiosity, holding onto my arm to have better balance even though the branch we're standing on is pretty thick.

"Hey, now that you're up, let me show you a great place in this tree. I want another generation to pass it on to others."

The boy looks hesitantly between my bright grin and the braches near the top of the tree before mumbling softly, thinking that I can't hear him even though we're just a few inches apart.

"But it's so high up…"

"Who cares if it's high up?" The boy jumps slightly at my sudden excited exclamation; it's been a really long time since I spoke to anyone like this… "If it's high up, that means it's just another adventure to get there! The treasure will be even greater if you fight for it, so why not take a little risk to see something special? I'll be here to catch you if you fall, so don't worry. I always climbed a lot when I was a kid and I came here many times and know all the best ways so climb it!"

I imagine myself being my own dad as I speak his words, my grin growing even larger at the thought. I'm… I'm actually having fun… And not the killing fun either… I can't believe it… I-it's been so long…

The boy look at my grin for just a few seconds before he's completely convinced and he look up towards the branches with a strong resolve shining in his yellow eyes, the same resolve his eyes showed when he was about to climb up the tree in the beginning. We share an excited glance, both of us whooping loudly and we start to climb, me climbing after the kid. The kid trips a few times, but I always catch his before he can lose his footing completely. It takes about ten minutes before we reach the branches I pointed at, the green leaves surrounding us completely and making us bathe in shadows. The kid is panting hard in exhaustion while I'm simply standing there, grinning down at the kid as if I never climbed up in the first place.

The ten year old looks around him in search for something special and when he doesn't find anything, he looks up towards me expectantly, waiting for something to happen.

"Well, mister? What's the treasure?"

I smirk at how impatient he is and motion for him to sit down on the branch he's standing on, he does as I tell him to do and once he's seated, I lift up a branch which reveals a completely new view in front of us. The boy's eyes grow wide in awe at the sight and his smile grows as bright as the afternoon sun shining at us.

The scenery has changed a lot throughout the years, but at the same time, it's like it was way back then. You can see buildings tower up behind the trees that are placed in the park, the park grass around said trees being completely green and full of life. A single river is flowing through the green mat, giving life to the flowers around it. The stone bridge going over the river matches the pavement road that many people are walking on, but no one stops to look at the beautiful park except for a few people who are sitting on the park benches. The cemetery looks as beautiful as the park, but without the river and gravestones instead of flowers. The two completely different places melt into one from this tree; you can't see the big road running along beneath the hill the cemetery is standing on, you can only hear the sound of cars running by. The sound is familiar to that of a flowing river… Something the road was before it got dried up…

"Woah…" The boy says in awe, transfixed at how the two places melt into one and somehow creating something beautiful. I nod in agreement, looking at the people simply passing by the park without sparing it a glance.

"Yeah, and all those people are missing such an amazing place by just walking by. Up here you get a completely different view of things, a view you could've never imagined by yourself. I've been here a lot, sat in the exact same spot as you are now for years and just stared at the scenery for hours. I would come here during the day and just simply stare at it until the sun went down in the horizon, it makes you feel peaceful, don't you think?"

"Umhum." The boy hums in agreement.

"Hey, did you know? A long time ago, the park wasn't even there, and neither were the graves. It was simply a river flowing down a meadow full of all kinds of flowers with trees surrounding it. There wasn't even a town behind it back then, just trees as far the eye could see. There was also another river at the exact same place where the big road is right now, but it got dried up. But if you listen carefully, you can imagine that the sound of cars rushing by is that river, almost like the river lives on by the sound of the cars. Heh, of course I haven't seen it, I'm way too young to have seen it so far back, but my family have for generations come to this very tree to look at the scenery. And I've been told that if I can't pass this scenery on to my own children, I should show it to someone special, someone who's worthy of seeing this beauty. I have no idea why anyone hasn't thought about climbing this tree before; this is simply amazing what beauty the nature holds…"

"Yeah… But mister, why are you showing it to me? I'm nothing special…"

I grin down at the boy's crestfallen face and I bonk him lightly in the head as punishment for even thinking like that.

"Stupid, I can feel that you're something special. I knew it the moment I laid my eyes on you. You have a really bright future ahead of you and I'm sure it will be more successful than my life is. Besides, I feel like I can trust that you'll only bring your most precious persons to this tree. And then I don't mean your parents or friends, but someone you really can't live without. For example, your future girlfriend."

I laugh when the boy's face grows red at the mention of getting himself a girlfriend, and I look out towards the scenery again.

"My dad brought my mom here when they first met each other; he just **felt** that she was something special that he wouldn't be able to walk one day without. He didn't bring me here until I was five and able to climb for myself. So I'm sure you'll know when those precious persons come into your life, those persons who are worthy of sharing this scenery with you in the future."

A comfortable silence stretch between us as we simply stare at the scenery, but that moment breaks when I hear someone call out the boy's name.

"Zen! Zen Len! Where are you?_!_" The boy look over his shoulder towards the voices in surprise and he stumble to get up on his feet. I let go of the branch and let the scenery be covered up by the thick layer of leaves.

"That's your parents?" I ask him casually. The boy nod and struggle to climb down on his wobbly legs.

"Yeah, I have to go to them, they were just supposed to visit a grave and then we would leave. But when my cap blew away, I had to go and chase after it."

I nod and grab onto him under his arms, slinging the boy over my shoulder and making him shout out in surprise at my action.

"H-hey, mister? What are you doing?"

I start to jump down branch to branch while I reply to him as if it's nothing.

"I'm helping you down, what does it look like? You have to hurry to your elders, they sound pretty worried."

After a few jumps, the boy and I break away from the green surrounding of the tree. The boy shout out in surprise again since the distance between the ground and the branches is pretty high, but I easily cushion the fall by bending my legs when they touch the ground. When I put the boy on the ground, a grin grows on my face when I see him shaking in fear. Fear can never make me bored or worried it seems, no matter who they are… Damn, I've really changed throughout the years…

"Well, there ya go kid. Now hurry up and go to your parents."

The kid looks up at me wearily before he starts to smile and laugh, finally overcoming the fear and instead takes joy over his ride down over my shoulder.

"Yeah, thanks mister. You know, you're very poetic when it comes to scenery, did you know that?"

I huff in annoyance, a frown appearing on my face at his unintended insult.

"Of course I know that, but I'm not usually speaking about it out loud. And people don't usually find my kind of beauty imaginable; they just don't appreciate it like I do. And I've never showed anyone my special place in the tree. You're just a special case, kid."

The boy grins at me before he run towards his parent's voices while waving good bye towards me. I wave as well, but once he's out of sight, I drop my hand to my side and my smile disappears from my face. I look down to the ground, my bangs shadowing my eyes from view as I regard my mother.

"Level with me, you planned this? That's cruel of you…"

A soft breeze blow around me, giving me some comfort and easing up my nerves since mother tries to hug me. I sigh tiredly, scratching the back of my head with my left hand while holding up my ocarina in my right one. I haven't let go of it yet, even when we climbed up in the tree.

"I reckon I should play for you and then leave; there isn't much else I can do here. You have been waiting for me for a year now."

With the soft breeze still twirling around me, I take the nozzle of my ocarina to my mouth and place my left hand on the turning section. I then begin to play our song. The song isn't very much, but it has a beautiful and cheerful melody. * The wind dances along with the song, ruffling the trees and my clothes in happiness. I don't let it distract me but continue to play our song and imagining that mom is playing with me, me having my old ocarina while she uses the one I'm using.

When the song is done, I simply pick up my bag from the ground, sling it over my shoulder and walk away with my ocarina raised in the air as good bye. When I leave the tree, I can feel all the happiness and calm feelings be sucked away from my body and I once again gain a blank face like the one I wore when I was on my way here.

Yeah… I really do feel lonely when I visit my parents… All good emotions kind of appear inside of me when I'm around one of them but they disappear just as quickly when I leave... I always return to the hard, angry and bloodlust filled me when I leave… What made me change so damn much? I used to be so playful and carefree way back then…

I laugh bitterly when I think up of an answer and I stop briefly to look up into the sky with a crazed grin on my face. It's the world; it's this whole world that has changed me. I have sucked in all the wickedness I've been exposed to through all my years, sucked in the anger, hate and bloodlust the other assassins have pushed away from their existence. I only suck up the 'bad' emotions and it in turn have made me into a crazy, blood lusting killer who I've told myself to not become when I was young. Maybe it's getting worse for each year? I can't tell for sure since I can't really see the change for myself.

"You will pay…" I whisper, rolling my head down to the right my head almost leaning on my right shoulder. My shoulders are shaking in quiet laughter as my eyes slowly widen with a crazed look inside them.

"You'll all pay… All the wrong things the assassins have done have created me… I hate it… But I also love it… Extremely so…"

I start walking again, my bangs hiding my eyes from view as I continue talking to myself. I dig my left hand into my pants pocket, my right one clenching my ocarina lightly as if it can bring me some kind of comfort. But it doesn't help me at all…

"No assassin will get away from me. No organisation shall be left alive or intact. All needs to die. The code has been broken by all of them. I'm not how I used to be. It's their fault, all their fault. They need to die, they must die for the code to be redeemed. Because you pushed feelings away I sucked them up! Do you get it you bastards out there! I'm going to kill you all the same way you killed your emotions! I'm not going to let a single one of you escape! Haaaahahahahaha!"

* * *

><p>*Spirited away: Always with me on STL Ocarina<p>

Heng shi is so scary when he's mad like that… TT^TT

Heng shi: Whell, thank you. But why did you have to make the readers know all that? It's just meant for my mother, no one else!

Naw, is little Heng shi embarrassed?

Heng shi: -Growling in anger- Shut up!

Alright, alright, fine, sorry. But the readers have to know a little more about you, you can't stay a mystery forever. And they also had to see the personality you had before you got corrupted.

Heng shi: Well, you didn't have to show them that about the kid!

Oh, that reminds me, why do you think Heng shi treated the kid different? Leave a review with your thoughts please, I'm really curious! :D

Heng shi: Shut up about that, weren't you supposed to ask those bastards about the **birthday chapter** in the end?

Right, thanks for reminding me! Alright, here's my question. **What kind of birthday chapter do you want? **Do you want **a chapter like the last one?** Or do you perhaps want to **see a sneak peak on one of my other stories****?** Or do you want to **know more about Heng shi's childhood? Write which kind of birthday chapter you want in a review, it will help me a lot to decide on what to write if I know what you want.** :)

Heng shi: Are you done now?

Yeah, I think I'm done. Thank you everyone who read and reviews my story, I can't thank you enough. ^^ See you soon~! :D


	25. The life of a demon Birthday chapter

Alright you wonderful people, finally I got my head on the track for this story and not something else. –Bows down deeply- I'm so sorry! I said this year's birthday chapter would be on the birthday but obviously just so much happened during the summer, mainly hanging with friends before school began and on top of that, my laziness hindered me and all these new ideas rose to the surface so my brain just couldn't focus on the time assassin! –Starts to cry- I'm so sorry; I'm a terrible author who barely updates… What happened to make me lose focus on the stories I'm posting?

Heng shi: Well, obviously you got too many ideas. You should really stop watching new animes or read new mangas, it'll only give you more.

How can you say that!? You know that I can't stop watching them! I mean, do you have any idea how awesome it is to find new fan-girl objects? –Does a wiggly dance with flowers around me- Have you seen Rin's awesome blue flames? Or seen how awesome Eren's 3D gear is? And oh my chocolate, don't let me even start on Zelgadis! I've only seen about 10 episodes but he's already right below Deidara in my fan girl list! His magic powers, his blue skin, his cold-yet considerate personality!

Heng shi: Alright! Alright! I get it! You're a typical fan girl. But why do you even like Deidara? I thought you were more into the sadistic or evil type when you squealed or smiled every time Alucard ripped his victims apart.

-cough- Well, I'm sorry for rambling there, let's go back to more important business.

Heng shi: -Grins- Avoiding the subject I see.

Aaaaanyway, I figured that you didn't understand completely everything of Heng shi's old speech from the previous chapter so I decided to skip it this time. It's easier for you to read then without having to figure out what the word means. (And also easier for me because I don't have to search for the words) So we'll just pretend that he speaks old-fashioned, alright? And to make up for my terrible lateness, this chapter is extra, extra long. And also, I've read guest reviews and they've said that I should expand the time that I talk with my wonderful killer before and after the chapters. And also, a guest pointed out that it was cruel of me to tie him to the chair since I can defend myself so well.

Heng shi: -snort- Yeah, right. She knows absolutely nothing about martial arts, the hammer she has sends shockwaves directly into my time energy and that's why I pass out. And those 'computer powers' of hers, it's only a matter of time before I figure out how to neutralize it so it doesn't affect me. And then, I'll take over the story.

Ehm… Does that mean that I was screwed since the second chapter…? Since I revealed about your time energy…? –is sweating a lot while slowly backing away from the grinning Heng shi-

Heng shi: -eyes gleaming dangerously- Of course, why else do you think that I've tried to kill you so many times. Once I destroy that 'computer power' of yours, this story will be mine to tell.

-Huddles off into a corner, hugging my knees and shaking- He's so scary… Why did I have to make him like that…? And why do you guys want me to release him…? He'll take over my story and then you'll never know what'll happen to him! Those people are still after him, you know?! Please don't make me release him! The last time I did, if it weren't for my computer powers, I would have been killed! And like he says, it's only a matter of time before he figures it out… So please don't make me release him!

Heng shi: -chuckles darkly- Yeah, yeah. Aren't you supposed to present the birthday chapter? You're late enough as it is.

-Dries my eyes and looks towards readers- Yeah… Sorry… Here's the birthday chapter, the majority of you wanted it to be Heng shi's childhood, so here it comes… All of them, kind of, he's a grown up on most of them… I hope this makes you understand Heng shi better. This chapter has taken 5 months to write!

Heng shi: -Glares darkly at me while trying to wiggle out from his chains- You're dead!

Eeeep! Enjoy! –runs out of the room, leaving Heng shi behind.

Heng shi: -Glances towards readers- If you vote for me getting free from these chains… I can make the story much more exciting. You won't know anything more about me though. And the girl won't talk anything after this chapter, thank god.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO

**1902 - 12****th**** may - 14:36**

I'm sitting in my father's lap, looking through a picture book containing different landscapes of the outside world. Since I haven't been allowed to go outside in my first five years, I want to see what the outside world is like in pictures instead. My gaze shifts from the picture book and up towards my father's neck where the golden chain of his necklace hangs loosely but disappears underneath his neck line. My brows furrow in confusion as I continue to stare at the chain.

"Excuse me, father. Why are you wearing a necklace all the time? Only girls are supposed to wear necklaces." I ask him innocently.

Father look down at me with slight interest shining in his yellow eyes, but smiles kindly as I reach up a hand to fish his necklace out from underneath his shirt. I look at the hourglass necklace in my hand, the sand inside it slowly pouring down the small hole and into the lower container but the strangest thing about it is that the sand seems to be never-ending, just continue to flow without the lower space getting full. I can hear father close the book we've been looking through, setting it aside on the brown leather couch we're sitting on before he ruffles my hair. Father and mother are the only ones who are allowed to do that to me, I hate it when others treat me like a kid.

"Not only women wear necklaces, son. If the necklace is important enough or the man simply thinks it looks good on him, men can too wear necklaces much like the women does."

I wrinkle my forehead in confusion, staring up into father's eyes and shift my position so that I'm sitting across his father's legs so I won't have to turn around in a weird angle to up look at him.

"But, that just seems so weird. Men aren't supposed to wear necklaces; it shows that they don't have any pride in being a man, that's at least what I've heard. The kids in school called you a woman just because you wear a necklace and have softer hair than other men."

Father raises an eyebrow in interest, unconsciously touching his dark blue hair tied up in a ponytail as he drops his hand from the my head to rest beside us on the couch.

"Did they now? That wasn't very nice of them to say, this guild is a family and families are supposed to respect each other and accept that not everyone are alike. I like my necklace and my hair is soft because I take good care of it."

I huff in annoyance, puffing out my cheeks slightly like I always do when I'm annoyed. I also cross my arms over my chest to further show my annoyance but it only makes my father smile, I have no idea why though.

"Yes, I told them that, that your necklace is important and just because your hair is soft doesn't mean that you're a woman. But they just continued laughing at you; I just don't understand why they would disrespect you so much just because you wear a necklace."

Father ruffles my white hair again before he envelops me in a one-armed hug. He knows that I don't like too much affection so he and mother always give me one-armed hugs so that I won't feel awkward. Although, on special occasions they can't help themselves from hugging me tightly, I guess it's ok if it's them…

"They just don't understand how it is to have something important to you that are unusual. Take your stuffed animal for example; even though you're five years old, old enough to sleep without a stuffed animal's comfort, you still hug it to your chest while you sleep." I blush slightly when he says that, it's not my fault that I can't bring myself to throw away my first gift… Father notices my embarrassment but doesn't mention it and continue to talk.

"That little stuffed dog is precious to you and that's why you don't want to throw it away or replace it, you want the animal to stay in your bed no matter how much you would be teased if the other boys in your school discovered it. It's the same thing with my necklace, I don't care if they tease me because I'm wearing it, I'll take those consequences if it means that I'll still have the necklace around my neck. And did you know that I also have a precious climbing tree?"

"Really? You have a climbing tree of your own?" I exclaim in amazement, this is something I haven't heard from him, and he always shares his secrets with me or mother. Father chuckles slightly at my excitement and hugs me a little tighter with his arm.

"That's right, as a matter of fact; I'll take you there tomorrow. You're old enough for me to share my special place with you."

My eyes light up in pure glee and I wiggle out from father's tight grip so that I can run out from the room to tell mother the good news.

"Mother! Mother! Father will show me his tree tomorrow! I'll be able to go outside! Did you know he had a tree?"

Mother's painting like she usually does in her work room she's bought with most of her work money. But when she hears me enter the room, she turns away from her painting to look down at me with her blue eyes. Her white hair tied up in a ponytail to keep it from getting in her way while she paints. As I'm walking towards her with happy skips in my steps, Mother's eyes soften and a small smile grace her lips as she puts aside her paint and pencil so she can envelop me in a hug once I reach her. I happily bury my face in her stomach.

"Yes, I knew he has a tree. In fact, I was the first person he showed his tree to. It's a very pretty place for a tree to grow on."

I wiggle out from her grip as well and start jumping in excitement.

"I want to go there now mother! I can't wait until tomorrow to see father's tree!"

Mother chuckles at my enthusiasm and ruffles my hair in affection; I shake of her hand with a smile on my face. Mother picks up her pencil and colors again, turning towards her painting and tells me from over her shoulder that if I wait until tomorrow to see the tree, I'll get to paint with her paint just this once. I can't say no to painting together with my mother, so I agree and follow her instructions on how to set up the second paint tripod. I then place a canvas on it and start to paint. I have only been allowed to draw on paper before so to pain on a canvas is really special! I will do the best painting I can!

Those days were my happiest days… Short as they were… everything must come to an end… 11 years later; sickness took my Mother away… Father following her two years later, losing the battle of age… After that, I was all alone with just a few things to remember them by… It was a terrible feeling and I wanted to follow them in death… But, I was too afraid to die completely… Now that I got the power to stay alive, I used it like the coward I was… I faked my death to try and start my life anew… I really disgust myself…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOO

**1944 - 1****st**** April - 03:18**

I and my three friends are sitting on a bench together, laughing over a joke one of us did. It's our fifth school year and I'm still mourning over my parents' death even though it happened many years ago. Right now, my body's 11 years old so I still have the pleasure of being a carefree child for a while more before I become an assassin. There's still three years left in school so I'll spend all the time I've got left with my new friends, they are the children of my former friends so you can say they're my replacement for their parents.

The girl of our gang, Caroline, brushes a strand of her black hair behind her ear, setting her blue eyes on me with an eager glint in her eyes.

"Hey, John, have you done any great pranks today?"

I laugh at her question, crossing my arms over my chest proudly while lifting my nose higher up into the air.

"Well, of course, I'm not called the 'prankster king' for nothing. You know that grumpy teacher who always wears a frown on his face; I decided to put some colour in his every-day life. So during one of his lessons yesterday, I snuck off from class and went into his apartment. I went into his bathroom and poured some colour in his shampoo so it turned pink! I bet that since he already has blonde hair, the colour will stick nicely onto his hair!"

Larry shoves me hard on my shoulder while he's laughing, almost making me fall off the bench with the force he puts behind it. Caroline and Jimmy are also laughing and the sound makes a small smile spread on my lips.

"Aw, man! Hahahaha! I can't wait to see how his hair turned out when we see him in the next class! Hahahahaha! Great job John! Hiehahaha!" Jimmy shouts out in between his hysterical laughs, clutching his stomach hard and trying, but failing, to stay on the bench. He instead falls to the floor because he bent over too far but he keeps laughing even then. Larry soon joins Jimmy on the ground and both brown-haired twins are rolling from side to side to try and lessen their laughter. This is what causes me to laugh with the others.

My and Caroline's laughter soon die out though when we see two teachers walk towards us with a third person hidden behind them. Larry and Jimmy haven't lessened their laughter though since they haven't spotted the teachers and seen their serious expressions.

"Shhh, guys, stop it." Caroline whispers to the twins, but they can't hear her since their laughter is too loud.

I see it as my responsibility as the oldest of us to be the first line of defense so I stand up to face the teachers. When the twins hear my footsteps as I walk towards the group of three, they slowly stop laughing and I can feel my friend's gazes on me when I stop a few feet away from them, waiting for the teachers to stop a few feet from me before I decide to speak as politely as I can.

"Hello, how can we help you? Has something happened?"

The two teachers at the front of the group look down on me with blank gazes, sparing a quick glance towards the three kids behind me for a short second before once again settling on me.

"John Stones, you are to come with us to a meeting with the elders. You are going to undergo the official assassin ceremony."

My eyes widen in shock at his words, I'll graduate already? But why? I have been holding back so why would they…?

"W-what? But why teacher? I'm nothing special." I tell them, frowning as I try to come up with something that could have exposed my knowledge of how to be an assassin to the elders.

The person behind the first two black-clad teachers pushes them aside so that the third person can show himself. With a lot of difficulty I manage to suppress the laughter that wants to burst out from my mouth as I see the once blonde-haired teacher now has salmon pink hair. Though I hear one of the twins cough to contain his own laughter but other than that, it's perfectly silent when we see him due to the current situation. The 'frownie' teacher's frown grows even deeper when he spots the amusement in my eyes and he stares accusingly down at me.

"John Stones, you're the one who broke into my apartment last night to pour colour into my shampoo so that it would turn into this despicable colour. But what makes you graduate is that you didn't leave any evidence for a trained assassin's eye to spot. No open door, no broken lock, no dirt or disruptions on the floor, no fingerprints and nothing was out of place when I stepped through my door. The only thing I found that could point the blame towards you was a single strand of white hair stuck on the shampoo bottle. I have noticed during the lessons I have with your class that you're a little further ahead of the others, but now I'm sure that you are miles ahead, maybe even on the same level as a talented assassin in the means of hiding. You are going to perform the assassin ceremony on tomorrow's full moon and devote your loyalty towards the elders. The decision is final."

I stare at him with cold sweat running down my neck, I never realized to make the break in scene seem like that of an amateur, I just did it like I always would have done. Shit… I royally screwed up…

"But a strand of hair isn't much evidence, how can you be so sure that it was me? And how can you be absolutely certain that I'm so far ahead of everyone else? I'm not a prodigy; I don't do anything that the others don't. My hiding skills just come naturally."

The teachers doesn't answer me, but the one to the right suddenly pull out a knife from his sleeve and quickly hurls it towards me, too fast for a newbie to even register it. I react fast and bat away the knife with my hand and inch away from my face so that it hits the floor with a small 'clang'. Since I made sure to hit the knife on its handle, I don't have any wounds from the weapon and out of instinct; I place myself in a fighting stance.

It takes a few seconds for me to realize what I've done when I see a smirk on the pink-haired man's face. Crap...

"I think that's evidence enough, now come along." He says with his smirk growing larger, as if he enjoys seeing me get nervous.

I take a deep breath to calm my nerves and look back towards my friends who are all standing up, staring at me with bewildered and shocked faces. I've never told them that I could do anything like that… When I broke into an apartment together with them, I always made sure to leave some kind of trace behind me somewhere just like they did… It's a miracle I've been able to fake clumsiness for so long…

I smile sadly at them when I see tears gathering in the corner of Caroline's eyes, they must feel betrayed right now…

"I guess… This is good bye, huh? I won't be able to see you anymore after the ceremony…"

Larry's eyes grow hard along with Jimmy's while Caroline's tears start to fall down her cheeks.

"Yes… I guess this is good bye forever. I thought we were supposed to be friends. But it seems you broke our most important promise right from the start."

I wince at his low blow, turning towards the teachers so that they won't be able to see the pain in my eyes. When the teachers start to walk away, I loyally walk after them with my gaze down to the floor.

They didn't even come to the ceremony… I saw Caroline once but she turned her eyes away from me… Larry died soon after he became an official assassin… He so desperately wanted to catch up to me… The only time I saw Jimmy was when he attacked me in a rage, he blamed me for his brother's death… It hurts to be rejected so I went more often to my mother and father's grave to talk about my problems… All this only makes me miss them more…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO

**1979 - 1****st**** July - 04:42**

I'm walking through the long corridor of Xian hong, my ever-present indifferent face looking straight ahead and don't meet any eye contact. Though I can't help but hear whispers from others as I walk by them.

"Hey, look, is Ryan already done with his mission? Wasn't it an assassination of a high-skilled martial artist from an enemy guild? He sure is a…"

"Ryan is back. Wow, he's so handsome with that indifferent face." "Yeah, I just wish he would notice me. Anyone would die to be together with a guy like him." "I agree he's so strong and…

"Tche, that damn kid. Coming here so early just to show off, I bet that he didn't even do his job but actually ran back here with his tail in between his legs. That would make more sense since you can't really kill an experienced fighter that fast with the talent he got."

I stop when I hear one of the elder men talk down on me. But my indifferent face doesn't change in any other way than my eyes getting harder. Talk bad about me, I can deal with that, but if you underestimate my skills, you won't get away unharmed. My anger grows as I hear other men laugh together with the one who spoke. The meeting with the elders can wait a little longer…

I turn sharply towards the sound of mocking laughter, stopping in front of the group of five men with my hands calmly placed inside my comfortable black pants. Their laughter dies out when they sense me and the five of them glares up at me from where they're sitting in a circle on the floor, playing a game of cards with a bottle of beer next to each of them.

"What do you want, kid? Aren't you supposed to go and report to the elders about your mission? Or maybe we were right about you failing your assassination. I thought it was bad from the start to make a kid like you graduate early. No friends, freezing out your family and treating everyone like a plague, the likes of you are never good assassins. You should know from school that assassin guilds are family and are supposed to treat each other well or have you forgotten that?"

I stare at him blankly, letting his insults run dry and their laughter die out before I speak.

"How about you, you tell me to treat the guild better but even so, you hate me to the bone just because I can do all jobs better and faster than you grown-ups who, in your opinion, have much more experience than I do."

"What did you say?!" Another man screams in anger as all five of them throw down their cards to stand taller than me by a good head. Even though I'm 14 and have reached my growth spurt, I know that I won't grow taller than 1,68 meters, I only have a few decimeters left until I reach that height.

"I think you heard me perfectly well, if you just use the shadows as your friend and hide your presence perfectly, an assassination of a fighter is easy even if that person is a martial artist who's training to become as swift as ourselves. My agility is also much greater than yours, I can see that you are one of those who work in groups and focus on strength, unlike myself who normally do solo jobs since I'm too fast for anyone to notice me before they're dead."

When one of the men tries to hit me, I easily turn away from the fist, catching it with one of the hands which I've had in my pocket up until now. I kick him in the stomach before he gets the chance to react and the man hits the wall, sliding down onto the floor while trying to regain his breath. When the other four men see their comrade down for count, they all attack at the same time in hope of overwhelming me. I take out my other hand from my pocket so I can use both my hands and block the first punch and kick with my arms.

When a fist aims towards my face, I quickly drop to the ground, putting my hands on marble floor, rolling forwards slightly and kick up my legs into two of the men's throats so they too loose their breath. I finish my roll just in time to avoid getting hit by a third man's stomp and when I turn around, I block a kick towards my head with my left hand. Keeping it there, just by his knee, I grab onto his heel with my right and push him backwards, forcing the man to fall unless he wants his kneecap broken. He lands clumsily, hitting the floor with the back of his head. I dodge to the left to avoid a tackle from the last man while giving him a light push in the back and sweeping out his legs from under him, causing him to face plant into the floor.

I stand in front of three groaning full-grown men who are struggling to stand up with two others behind me who are unconscious, or probably dead since I did kick them hard on their throats. I turn away from the group, speaking to them as I walk away.

"Insulting me, I'm ok with that, insulting other guild members, I can deal with that too. But if you ever insult my skills or the guild as a whole, you are shown first-hand what I can do."

A few teenage girls squeal at my words, whispering about how cool I was as I continue my walk to the elders.

I don't mourn over my parents as much anymore but I refuse to call my new 'family' my family… I don't want to be rejected by my friends like I was before so I don't want to have any in the first place… If I don't have any bonds, it won't be as painful to leave, right…?

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO

**2005 - 10****th**** September - 02:58**

"No…" I whisper in disbelief, staring at the dead bodies in shock. My last life was lonely so I tried to start from scratch this time again, but when I go after the target alone, I find my two only friends dead when I get back. How did this happen? Th-they're holding hands? They're smiling? Why are they smiling?! Are they happy to leave me behind?! How could they have died?! There weren't many assassins when I left, I'm sure they could have taken care of it! Or else I wouldn't have left!

I look down at the blood around their bodies, it looks fresh and is still pouring out, they must have been dead for just a few minutes… I go down to my knees and touch the blood, it isn't really cold, I would say 5-7 minutes tops that the blood has been lying here. Stab through the heart on Gwen… Stab through the kidney and lung on Gered… They must be happy to at least die together… But they forgot about me! They left me behind! They shouldn't look so damn happy! It was just because of them that I could go on team missions! They're only 15! They shouldn't die so early!

I hit the ground in frustration, my fist making a splashing sound when it hits the bloody puddle. My body shivers in both disgust and excitement at the sound of blood. Disgust because it's the blood coming from my first friends I've had in decades and excitement because it's blood, still warm blood. I can feel its weak heat caress my skin through my glove and it makes me want to feel more of heated blood. But I can't… because there's no one else to kill…

There are corpses littered everywhere, their blood splattering over the wall and floors. Many bodies are crushed from Gered's heavy spike ball and are lying, broken; in craters either alone or together with someone. Lines of splashed blood litters the floor and walls here and there from Gwen's swift work with her daggers and a lot of the dead people have holes in their bodies after being hit by my deadly shots with my type 64 pistol.

I sigh tiredly, standing up from the floor and look down at my friends' peaceful faces one last time. Someone has to report the mission… I guess it's time to get back…

I turn around and walk away from the bloody scene, my steps silent with a slight 'tap' echoing through the wide halls of the mansion our mission was placed in. The target is dead and the target's help is dead. But along the way, two comrades died. One who was a huge asset in his strength and the other with her agility. But even though we've lost them, the elders will see this as a job well done since I came out alive. But I won't ever call this mission a good one. I won't take any team missions again.

It's better to work alone, that way; the hole in my chest won't hurt… I guess trying to rebuild my life is meaningless… I will always face the same pain, over and over, like a nightmare repeating itself… No more important bonds, only weak bonds which will fill the empty void… Because precious bonds are too painful to cut…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO

**2034 - 22****nd**** April - 09:26**

"Hi mother! I'm back!" I call out happily as I stand in front of the special tree with a backpack slung over my shoulder. I smile as a warm breeze caress my cheek and I walk over to the base of the tree to sit down against the trunk. Once I'm seated, I open my backpack and take out the photo of my mother, drawing pad, pencil and a rubber. I place the picture of mother beside me while placing the drawing pad in my lap to think about what to draw this time. Yesterday, I drew the scenery from the tree's view. Both how I remember it and how it is now. A lot has changed from then to now; the river has a bridge over it and I assume the meadow will soon become a park. A church has been built here so there are gravestones at the end of this hill now and a few trees have been cut down to build houses in the horizon.

I sit there in silence, simply drawing and enjoying the warm summer breeze underneath the shadow of my family's big tree. I should visit father soon, it has been a while since I did and I'm sure he would enjoy some company. Having a dumpster dumped on top of his grave isn't really pleasant; at least I think that's what he's thinking even if that dump doesn't stink.

I settle on drawing a family photo of me, father and mother. Me sitting in father's lap with mother next to us on the leather couch we used to have. Mother and I are playing on our ocarinas and father's listening to us playing with a peaceful smile on his face. It still hurts to think back to those days, but not as much anymore. Sometimes I don't understand why I even bother to stay alive, why don't I drop dead already? I don't have anything in particular to protect or live for, so why don't I join my family already?

As I gaze at the picture, I realize that I can't really create a happy and calm feeling to it. The bodies are too tense and father's smile seems almost forced. I still have a long way to go before I can draw as good as I did before, even though I've practiced for 10 years now in my 17 long 'life', I still can't picture the alive feeling. I have been faced with too much death so I've completely lost my touch through the years. I sigh tiredly as I close the pad, gazing up on the green leaves above me.

"Mother… What am I living for now? It hurts, everything hurts. It hurts to remember you and father, it hurts to leave friends behind when I graduate early, it hurts to hear those hateful comments most grown-ups say about me, it hurts to… live. The only time it doesn't hurt is when I'm killing, but killing shouldn't be my meaning of life. I don't want to get a precious person because it would hurt to tell the truth about me, it would hurt even more to start over if I do get such a bond. If I reveal my secret, they will hate me, everyone will call me a monster and avoid me completely. That's too painful to even think about… I need to fill the void I have in some way and then I need someone to talk to… And that hole keeps on getting bigger… What can I live for? I don't know how long I can keep this up… But, I'm scared… Of all the things I'm scared of, it's death…"

I close my eyes as another tired sigh escape my lips and joins another burst of wind which ruffles my hair. Xian hong start to get suspicious too, they start to theorize that my first cycle is the main soul and that my other cycles is a 'reincarnation' of my first cycle. They aren't completely right but when the elders called me in for a meeting and told me that I was the reincarnation of the real me, I had to pretend to be shocked and confused. I was truly shocked that they would have figured it out, but I had to play with the confusion part. They said that I was 'destined to develop fast and graduate early' and my classmates avoided me after they found out about me being the 'reincarnation'. They didn't see any point in befriending someone who would graduate early anyways. But that was for the best, and then I could devote my attention to my first self, trying to bring bits and pieces of it back to me now. It's a really slow process, but it's working.

My temper has gotten a little better and I'm drawing and playing music again. And it isn't as painful to visit Mother and Father either so I do it more often now. I'm also smiling this time when I'm alone compared to previous cycles, since I'm re-living my first cycle, the happy memories surface and I remember more of how wonderful my parents were.

The things in my past is probably what's keeping me alive, my parents existence shouldn't be forgotten, that must be the reason I have for being alive. Right when I'm knocking on hell's door; I'm turning back time to meet death another day, I'm running away from death. Yeah, that's it… I'm afraid to die, that's why I'm still alive… I shouldn't live, but I do… The past keeps me happy but the past destroys me all the same… The past is a small light in my heart, but the past also brings me much more darkness in return for the light…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOO

**2069 - 30****th**** June - 24:30**

Only the blue light coming from the computer brightens my dark room as I'm looking through files. I'm looking for certain files, namely those of me from my different cycles. I change each hairstyle, even though I've had the same hair all this time, so that it won't be as easy to recognize me. Although, Photoshop doesn't want to change my eyes into another colour for some reason, it looks fake when I do. I have to change all photos, there's a high chance anyone could find them even if they're deleted afterwards.

All former information about me and my skills, deleted and forgotten like my past never even existed other than in my head. All the different names they've given me, none of them Chinese for some reason, gone and forgotten. It seems like the names has to be from the western world so we can blend in easier anywhere. I suppose it has been like that since the Second World War when Germany lost. Although my first name is and will always be Chinese and I'll never forget it like I've done with my other names.

The disk holding an advanced protecting program is lying on the table next to the computer, the CD reflecting blue light from the computer. My fingers are tapping the keyboard absently as I wait for all the files to be deleted. After this, my past, present and future will be kept a secret to everyone. The most anyone would be able to get are pictures but they can't do much with them, much less draw a connection between them.

A 'blip' sound comes out from the computer speakers as a sign that my files are all deleted. I click down the window and carefully pick up the blank disc. I'm very careful when I put the CD into the machine and once I press the 'open files' for the disc, the computer screen starts flickering before it becomes completely blue. Vaguely remembering the instructions, I start tapping different keys to instruct the program on what to do. Protect the future and past files of me from everyone, not even me should be able to get it. Also, protect my big money account, the one I transfer all the money from past cycles to it, and make sure I'm the only one who can have access to it.

Once I'm finished writing the instructions, I sit back in my computer chair to wait for a few minutes, the screen is supposed to turn back to normal if I've done things right. Much to my pleasure, the screen turn back to normal and nothing seems to amiss with the computer files other than my information being deleted. As a test, I take a photo of myself with my mobile camera, sending the picture to my computer through Bluetooth to save it there. Although, when the computer states that the file is received, I can't find it anywhere. And when I look into my phone, I can't find it there either since the phone was momentarily connected to the internet. It seems like this super secure program works, now no one will be able to find any information about me, that's good.

I stand up from my chair, stretching my arms up in the air to ease my tense shoulders before I take out the disk and turn off the computer. Now that the program is in the internet, this CD Isn't really needed, but I will save it anyway, just for good measure.

I start to walk out from my room, I have to go and get some dinner before I can get to bed. Even though I would like to not meet anyone, I can't stop eating just because of that. I hate it, I hate it all. The rules, the people, the orders, my life, everything.

I slowly walk down the corridor, avoiding everyone's gaze and stepping away from anyone who's about to walk into me. I take a turn to the left into a corridor which I know not many people use and walk the long way towards the dining hall.

It takes me 5 minutes more than usual to get to the dining hall and once I'm there, the idle chatter is being drilled into my brain and hurts me physically. I quickly slink over to the small shaft that hold food, pick a plate and put food on it and then slink out from the room just as quick as I came. I sigh in relief to be away from that cramped, white room and make my way towards one of the marble benches that are against the wall of the huge corridor. Once I've eaten my food, I'll leave my plate and then I'll go back to my room. I hate other people, they're nothing but trouble.

A young boy, about the age of 15, is walking towards me with determined strides. He is dressed in a complete black bodysuit, just like any other assassin these days. He must be newly employed…

I give him my deadliest glare to try and keep him away from me, but the boy continues to stride forward although now with cold sweat clinging to his forehead. Why the hell must he be so persistent?

The boy stops a few meter away from me but before he gets the chance to even open his mouth, I speak up myself.

"You must be a newbie. Your higher ups obviously haven't told you the most important unwritten rule here in Xian Hong. Don't get near me and don't try to socialize with me. I hate people."

The boy swallows hard, my words having the same effect as I wanted them to have but even so, the boy straightens himself and look me dead in the eye. Although he has a lot of fear showing on his face and body language.

"Y-yes, I-I know of that rule Mikael Jung! B-but I-I was sent b-by the elders t-to tell you that you're o-ordered to attend t-to an important m-meeting!"

I frown in disapproval, those elders; I don't like them at all. They're all so paranoid over everything. Maybe they have a theory that as the 'reincarnation', I'll bring destruction to the organization. They'll probably get rid of me if I go. I think it's time to end this cycle anyways but I won't go.

I put aside my unfinished plate, stand up and walk away from the frightened boy towards my room.

"H-hey! Where are you going Mikel?" The boy shouts out and follows me.

"Shut up." I retort and walk a little faster; the boy follows my example and manages to touch me on the shoulder. I freeze in place, those horrid memories taking its hold on me and out of instinct; I quickly spin around and punch the boy away, my fist making a cracking sound as it connects with his nose. The boy skids away a good three feet until he stops and other people around us quickly comes to the boys' aid, all of them glaring angrily at me.

I'm panting hard; my body shaking as the horrible memories almost takes over me. I bite my lip until it bleeds before I manage to get a grip on myself. I stare down at the boy, my face turning blank, almost like a zombie as the huge hole in my chest presents itself within me.

"Don't touch me. I want nothing to do with others. Next time you touch me, I'll kill you."

I then turn around to walk away, the void feeling inside me suddenly seem larger because I have once again pushed away any kind of human contact. What's wrong with me? I can't handle it anymore.

When I start walking, the boy calls out after me that I have to go to the elders. Even with his broken nose, he still thinks about the mission. I continue walking without giving him a response. The hole inside me is still aching and while it does that, I can't do anything. Suppress the memories, walk on and find a reason to live, that's what I'm doing.

The only really useful thing I've done so far is to delete my information… A blank shell, that's all that I am right now… Doesn't want human contact and has nothing to live for… Time to start over… Maybe I'll find a reason next time…

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**2100 - 17****th**** September - 03:44**

"Flynn Clark. Do you mind if we have a word with you?"

I stop in the middle of the deserted corridors, not turning around to face the elders who are all standing behind me. They all have a serious aura around them and I can't help but notice that they are a little hostile as well. I smirk, tilting my head a little to the side as I speak to them with amusement in my voice.

"Yes, dear elders? What can I do for you?"

"We want you to answer a few questions of ours."

I turn my head around to stare at the elders, amusement and interest hiding the suspicion in my eyes. Have they found out anything about the true me? If the questions are too personal, I have to kill them whether they're elders or not. These are really one of my favorite elder groups so it'll be a shame if they ask about that.

"That does depend on what kind of questions it is, but ask away."

"Where does your loyalty lie? Within us elders or the organization?" The main elder, Jiro, says seriously, the aura of hostility increasing a little within all of the elders. I relax slightly, if it's those types of questions, there won't be any trouble.

I turn towards them fully, crossing my arms over my chest before I answer.

"My loyalty does not lie within you or what you see as the organization. You could call it loyalty towards me and the organization as a whole."

The youngest of the elders, Carla, seems confused by my answer and steps forward to ask another question.

"What does that-" She's cut off by Jiro though with a lift of his hand. She immediately gets silent and Jiro takes up the task on asking interrogating me.

"You are the incarnation of the 'white snake' and like the previous incarnations you've graduated early and been a great recourse to Xian hong. But the real question is if you're really born again with the same soul, you are far too experienced to be called a prodigy. How old are you really?"

Through his talk, I keep my calm façade but once he ask the real question my act shatters into pieces and a murderous grin appears on my face. The elders get more cautious when they see my grin and they tense up to be prepared for battle. I have to kill the elders; this is going to feel great!

"You're asking me how old I am? That's pretty rude, you know."

I uncross my arms and direct one of my palms towards the path behind the elders and use time energy to create a barrier so no one can get in or out from it. The elders notice the small shine of light glinting across the opening and the weapon specialist, Stephan, quickly runs over to the invisible wall with his sword pointing forward. When the sword connects with the barrier, the barrier automatically drains all the time energy from the sword and returning it to its original form, dust. I can see that the barrier manage to drain some of Stephan's time energy as well but not enough to kill him since he quickly let go of his sword and jumped away just in time.

"-Pant- Jiro, this force field –pant- is draining the life out from you!" Stephan yell out in warning. The other elders grow even tenser by his words and they take out their respective weapons to fight me.

Jiro his daggers, Clara her two swords, Stephan takes out a huge hammer which fits perfectly for his huge form and strength, my former teacher John takes out his two nun chucks from his belt and the silent Marie takes out her two pistols. I just stare at them and start to chuckle at their pointless struggle to escape from here alive. I do the same with the opening behind me so that the five of them are trapped in here with me.

"It's not draining the life out from you, just your time energy. If it drains you dry, you become what your body once were, just a pile of cells, meaning you become dust. Draining time energy from others, it's what I do."

Jiro's eyes narrow in disgust and he readies his weapons to throw them at me if I make any sudden movement.

"You monster, so that's what have been keeping you alive, draining the life of others to satisfy your need of immortality?!"

I shake my head at his words, my smile turning more evil than blood thirsty.

"No, not really. At first, I was just afraid to die. Then when I thought that I would end my endless suffering by dying for real, I finally found a reason to live! I found it in this life, do you have any idea how wonderful it feels to have a reason to live for?!" I take a step forward, my eyes going wide with glee as I can finally say everything I've wanted to say for two decades.

"I'm going to cleanse the assassins! Their goal has been dirtied, their unity has been dirtied and their will has been dirtied! I've watched the change for 167 years now! Everything the assassins abandon sticks to me; their hate, their grief, their regret, their love, their sympathy, their bloodlust... it is all making the hole inside me grow! But now I finally have something to fill that hole! Haaaaahahahaha!"

As I throw my head up towards the ceiling to laugh to my heart's content, I can feel the elders quickly move forward to strike me down. Jiro throws one of his daggers, but I step to the side and catch the dagger as it passes me. With a huge grin still on my face, I see Stephan's huge hammer advance down on me. I slow down time a little so I'm able to avoid it since there would be no way to avoid that in time if I hadn't unless I want to use time energy in my muscles.

With the time still slowed down, I sling myself up onto the weapon specialists back and hold the very sharp dagger against his throat. I then make the time go at a normal pace again and I slit open Stephan's throat, the cut being deep enough so that I know there's no way he can survive it more than a few seconds. Jiro swears loudly and Clara swing her swords down into my back, although I roll away from the corpse, she still grazes me with the sword's sharp edges. I grin at the four who are left and tell them with a voice that can send cold shivers down one's spine.

"One down, four more to go."

After I've said that, all four of them start a deadly dance with me all at once with Jiro and Marie keeping their distance. I cut the other two little by little, taking pleasure in the blood splattering over my face and clothes, both my own and theirs. The deadly dance takes a few minutes before one side gets the 'advantage' which are the elders. Marie manages to shoot me in the knee and I fall down to the floor since my leg no longer can support me. Clara lifts her swords in the air to kill me 'for good' and she slashes me right where my heart is. What she doesn't know is that I put up a time energy barrier inside my body just in time to not be killed, but I fake my death of course and fall back onto the ground with an unfocused stare.

Clara sighs in relief and I can hear her thank Marie for shooting me so I could be killed. Then they talk about how they won, what they should do now and blah, blah, blah, that stupid talk people have after a battle to complement each other on what they did. Ugh, I've always hated that kind of talk.

But finally, they decide to get back to their 'throne corridor' to report about my betrayal but they stop once they notice that my barrier is still there even though I've been 'killed'. How they noticed that? It was only pure luck that they carried Stephan's dead body so it was one centimeter ahead of Clara and Jiro, who were carrying Stephan's body.

"W-what?! Stephan's body turned into dust?! B-but how? The barrier shouldn't be intact!" Clara shouts out in distress. I think it's time to make my appearance. Whenever you think you've taken down a bad guy, they always rise up again.

I slowly rise up to my feet while I'm speaking, making their eye fall onto me and every one of them expressing shock over my survival.

"It's because I'm not dead yet, Clara. Not until I've destroyed every single assassin's guild, I can't die. And I won't let anyone who knows my secret live either."

Once I'm standing upright, I flash them a blood thirsty grin and then I stop time. I stare at their wondrous shocked faces for a second before I run towards them, taking Clara's swords from her sheaths around her waist and hold the two swords against the first two of the elder's necks. When I start time again, I cut of their heads easily thanks to my strength, speed and the blade's sharpness. The last two elders, Jiro and Marie, only get the time to glance towards their companion's direction before I'm up in their faces as well. I stab both of them in their throats, them emitting a small gurgling sound before they fall to the floor, dead.

I drain the barriers and crouch down in front of the four dead elder's bodies, all of them pained in a beautiful red. I take some blood on my fingers and start to paint a little beside the bodies, the blood feeling warm against my fingers and I steadily draw a grim reaper with five spirits around him, the spirits representing the elders while the grim reaper is me.

I look around the corridor, the beautiful red colour staining the marble floor and a little on the white walls. There are craters after Stephan's hammer and John's nun chucks from when they've hit the ground hard enough. Maybe I should die too… The wound on my chest is still bleeding and I can make it look like I got stabbed by Jiro when he was on the doorstep of the afterlife. Yeah, that could work. Or I could die from bleeding… Less work with over bleeding, I'll take that option instead.

I drain time energy from the elder's corpses so that I can keep myself alive before I make a blood trail towards the wall. I then lean against the wall and use my time energy to momentarily stop my bleeding. Now I just have to wait until someone comes to investigate and find me and the elders, then they'll take away the bodies and dispose of them in the heat oven so the corpses can burn.

I've done this so many times now… Fooling death and fooling others that I am dead… I might tell someone my secret in the future instead of just telling people who are going to die… But it'll probably take a few centuries before I would even trust anyone enough to do that… I can't trust anyone other than myself… The world is too greedy for power… Even I cannot resist its pull…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO

**2121 - 25****th**** August - 02:41**

Did you know that there are a lot of rumors constantly floating around in the organization? Many of them aren't true, but of course there are those rumors that are true but no one really believes it. As I'm sitting in the middle of the dining hall, surrounded by people with two persons sitting at my table who I can somewhat accept, I can constantly hear chitter and chatter about different rumors or stories going around, the most excited ones coming from the younger part of Xian hong.

My hearing is shifting between different people to try and snap up something interesting and my ears finally settle on a pair of girls who are talking mainly about me a few feet to my left.

"-ard the rumor about the hottest hottie?"

"You mean Nile? What about him?"

"Well, I've heard some really nasty stuff about him from our teachers, that's why he graduated so early. They say that when he was just a few years old, he killed his own parents!"

"What?! No way! Why would anyone want to kill their parents!?"

"Well, it's only a rumor but they say the parents didn't let him do the things he wanted when he was young and because of his bad temper, he killed them for it! You do know that the previous reincarnation of him killed the elders, right? That must be why he's so crazy this time. He may be a hottie and is a great role model for other assassins, but after hearing that, you realize what the life of an assassin really can do to a child. Although I'm glad we weren't that affected."

"Yeah, I wonder what he's thinking…"

"I don't know but I don't want to find out… Now, that guy seems scary…"

I smirk slightly, amused that they would be frightened by that little story. My caretakers didn't want to let me go to school in fear that my actions would turn out similar to what I did in the previous cycle. It is as they say, I killed them when I was only a few years into this cycle, but not many knows that and I'm playing it off like I don't remember it.

My bloodlust and anger have grown stronger ever since I've killed the elders, I'm not sure why though. Can have something to do with the way my caretakers treated me… Most people are afraid of me because of the way I smile before and after a mission but it seems I'm still popular with the girls no matter what I do… How can I get them to leave me alone?

I decide to test something out in hope that those two who were talking about me will stop like me. I turn my head around so that I'm looking directly at the girls, giving them a small, dark smirk to say 'that rumor is true' before I turn back to my acquaintances who are having a discussion over a mission the two of them did. They're discussing whether or not it was good to let a little kid, who stumbled into their mission by accident, run away from the scene. Assassins these days really don't have a heart, not that I'm saying I have one anyway.

"On the other hand, he's too hot. It's impossible to not like him."

"Yeah, I agree."

I sigh quietly in disappointment; my plan seems to have made their crushes on me worse… Why the hell do girls have to like the 'evil' type?

To complete my goal, I have to live quietly… To live quietly I have to be inconspicuous… To be inconspicuous I have to control my emotions… But it's getting harder and harder to contain them, especially my lust for blood… I know that I should learn to control them better… If not, I'll get exposed… And that could lead to my downfall… Meaning the end of not only my life, but for my humanity as well…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO

**2140 - 18****th**** December - 03:06**

I'm walking down the long corridor, holding a baggy backpack with the things I was supposed to bring back from my assassination mission. A dark blue scarf is hiding the lower part of my face, making it easier for me to hide my expressions from the world and reminding me to keep my emotions in check. I am in the process of creating a "face mask" that will hide my true self away from the world; hide my bloodlust, anger and resentment. It is hard though, as maintaining a blank or polite facade is only the first step, and that is difficult enough. What I really need to do is learn how to reign in my emotions.

"Mister Ling!"

I have the huge urge to sigh angrily as I see three kids run towards me, waving their hands happily in the air to catch my attention. The kids see me as their biggest idol because I always do my missions right, and because all girls like me... AGAIN… But this time it's because I'm the 'mysterious' type and not the 'evil' type… When will there ever be a cycle where I'm not liked by the girls? Fuck my awesome looks. I decide to humor the boys by simply nodding my head and then continue walking, but their annoying voices have to call after me…

"Mister Ling! Please wait!"

I tense up as I feel my anger spike and almost burst through its thin layer of protection but I manage to somewhat hold it down. I won't hit the kids just because they are annoying. I won't hit them. I won't hit them…

The kids stop right next to me, huffing in exhaustion as they all support themselves on the knees. I shift my hold on my black backpack as I glance at the kids from the corner of my eye, trying to show an interested glint in my eye but obviously fails if I'm going by their scared posture when they look up at me. It's really hard to hide your emotions; I think it'll take many years until I master it.

"What?" I grunt out, speaking as little as possible to contain my boiling anger towards the annoying flies near me.

"Ehm…" The kid in the front starts. "Well, Mister Ling, I'm wondering if you have any leads on how to use a sword properly, we can't seem to grasp the technique. Maybe you can show us?"

"No." Is my short answer and I stare at them with a silent question in my eyes, 'Is that all you wanted? Then don't waste my time'. The boys get nervous by my stare and another one steps forward to ask me a question.

"Well, you always get girls to look at you; do you have any trick to that?"

"No, I walk." I continue to stare at the boys with the same question in my eyes; others have started to notice me talking to the kids by now. The kid asking the question widens his eyes in surprise over my answer.

"So you just walk and they notice you immediately?"

My patience is running thin by now and I'm sure that if I stay with these kids any longer, I'll end up punching them for being so annoying and that would do me no good in containing emotions. I remember that I have a mission to report and I point towards the backpack over my shoulder and say "Mission". The boys get my drift and they immediately apologize for holding me up. As I start walking, I hear someone walk up to the kids and start talking to them. I can hear it's a man, one of those men who see me as a competition and thus hate me.

"You shouldn't bother asking him on point-outs or favors. He's an anti-social bastard who doesn't know anything of teamwork. He might be the reincarnation of a famous assassin, but he isn't much compared to me. I'm much better than he is." I stop walking when I hear him say proudly that he's better than I am and I can't contain my anger anymore, how dare he say that!? And when he knows full well that I'm hearing! I thought people learned not to mess with me!

"Really?" I ask him, almost hissing out the word and probably sending shivers down a few people's spines. The feeling of anger around me was so strong that those around me got quiet, so you could clearly hear what I said. His answer is filled with confidence and arrogance and I can imagine him straightening himself to face me.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I said. Weakling. You think you're so coo-" My fist in his face cuts off his sentence.

In just 4 seconds, I've spun around, jumped at him and thrown a punch in his face and now he's lying a few feet away from me with a broken nose. The man takes the pain well since he only hisses in pain before he lifts his head up to glare at me. But the glare I give him makes his glare falter, because I've released the leash on my bloodlust and it's gazing down at the man.

"If you say one more fucking thing, you won't live tomorrow."

The man nods slowly and he unconsciously move his free hand towards one of the hidden knives all of us assassin have. Since I'm satisfied with the answer, I close my eyes and focus on holding my anger at bay and replace it with my still poor face-mask. It takes 20 seconds for me to suppress my emotions, but once I do, I simply turn around and resume my walk towards the elders.

My anger is strong… Too strong sometimes, but I don't think or care about that when my vision grows red… So I have to stop myself from reaching that point… It's hard, but I have to learn how to do it so that I can do my job right… My REAL job, to delete the assassins…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO

**2174 - 26****th**** Feburary - 23:14**

"Like hell I'll do a stupid mission like that! Why do I need to deliver a stupid letter? I'm a professional killer, not some mail-deliverer!"

The eldest elder sigh tiredly at my behavior, rubbing his temples in frustration that I won't cooperate with them. The weapon master slams his hands down on their half-moon-table and shouts at me in anger, even louder than I did.

"It's your duty as an assassin to also strengthen our bonds with our intellections or allies! How many times do we have to tell you that!? Delivering letters are just as important as killing a hindering target!"

I want to scream back at him even louder, but my red scarf reminds me that I have to take hold on my emotions, so I put on my face mask. Now, I'll be cocky and seem superior.

"Tche, I still don't get it why I have to be the one to do it. I know we have an assassin's guild on our backs who want to kill us, why not let me take care of them? Let Xien take care of the letter. He could use some extra exercise; he's been avoiding missions for three months."

"That's because he just got a child, Zen. We allowed him to take care of the child under the condition that he would work in the kitchen during his free time." The eldest say tiredly, staring at me with 'please understand why you have to do it' in his eyes. I just shake my head, turn around and walk away from the elders. The weapon master scream after me, just as loud as before and I hold my hands over my ears to block out the sound. My face mask has improved, but my temper won't handle another fully-heard shout from the man.

"Where the hell do you think you're going?! We just gave you a mission! Come here and receive the letter!"

"I told you I'm not doing that type of mission. Call me back when you have a more exciting mission for me. And you better keep your voice down, old hippo. You wouldn't want the ceiling to break or the enemies to hear you because you shouted so loud? And brush your teeth; you could kill a swarm of flies with that breath. As weird as it sounds, I would pity those flies." I tell him without turning around while cleaning my ear from wax with my finger. A typical laid-back image, the classic to rile people by while throwing insults at them.

"Why you little-! I'll kill you!" He screams at me as I start walking again. I just lift a hand in the air, saying a silent 'goodbye' with the gesture.

"Yeah, right. You wouldn't succeed old man, I'm better than you."

After that, I jump a little to the side to avoid the hammer that was hurled towards my head and it crashes into the floor a little ways ahead of me, creating a little crater as it hits the floor. After that, he doesn't scream at me or throw anything else but let me walk away towards the dining hall. On my way there, I can hear the angry whispers around me.

"How can he be so rude towards the elders?"

"That kid must be all talk, no one has beaten the weapon elder."

"You would think that with that scarf of his, he would be mysterious and cool, but he's just a jerk."

"Always insulting people, it's no surprise that he doesn't have anyone to talk to."

Finally, girls aren't in love with me in this cycle, I can finally have some space from those lovey-dovey confessions they make. Because of my face-mask personality, everyone hates me. I don't have any friends, but I still make contact with people by insulting them when I point out obvious truths about them.

The hole is still there… But it doesn't hurt as much anymore… It's being filled with hate from others instead of love… Hate is much better, because love just makes the hole bigger after they die… I'm bleeding from my heart, literally, from time to time… Just to relieve the pain a little for a short while…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOO

**2238 - 30****th**** August - 02:32**

Girls around the age of 17-19 are giggling all around me as I'm sitting relaxed on the bench with two arms tossed around two different girl's shoulders on both sides. Two other girls are standing on their knees in front of me, leaning on my thighs to get as close to me as possible.

"Hey, Yen, what are you going to do tonight?" The girl to my right asks me flirty, leaning closer to me and pressing her breasts to my side. I look at her, pulling her closer to me in response and lean my face extremely close to hers with a playful smirk on my lips.

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe a little of this and a little of that. Do you want me to do something else, Chin?"

She stares at me with obvious lust as she presses herself even closer to me and slowly lean forward as to kiss me. "Yes, I would want you to do everything…"

Just before she kisses me, I lean away and turn my attention towards the girl tugging on my left leg with a raised eyebrow. I see her angry look and my smirk widens slightly as I release Chin so I can have a free hand to grip onto the girl's chin and lift her head up so that she's looking right into my eyes.

"Don't worry Miao, you can always join us. The question is if you are willing to share me a little."

Miao's eyes also get filled with lust at my comment and she smirks back at me, her hand crawling up to my private area. "And if I don't want to?" she says huskily. I stop her from getting too close to my dick after I've released her chin.

"You'll have to wait for that, those who wait for something good can never wait too long."

The other three girls giggle slightly while Miao's still a captive in my yellow eyes. At least until my only friend Guan calls out to me.

"There you are! I knew I would find you if I hear multiply girls giggling! Ok, many girls giggle, but you get my point."

I chuckle slightly at Guan's bad joke and I toss my arm around Chin's shoulders as I look up at my smirking friend with a smirk of my own since the girls are glaring at him because we were disturbed.

"Yeah, what did you want Guan? I'm a little busy here." I say as I tighten my grip on the girl's shoulders, said girls giggling in response. Guan just shakes his head, his curly black hair moving slightly with the motion and he points over his shoulder to tell me to come with him.

"Come on, Yen. We have a mission to do, just you and I."

I hide my surprise behind my mask and make my smirk get more wicked than amused.

"Really? Just you and me? Does that have a hidden meaning behind it?" I ask, wiggling my eyebrows. Guan just laughs at my comment.

"Hahaha, no way, in your dreams Yen! Now, let's go. Your ladies can wait a few more hours can't they?"

I do an exaggerate sigh while releasing the two girls I'm holding onto and standing up without any difficulty even though the girls lying on my legs try to hold me down.

"Damn, I guess you and I will remain a dream then, I thought there was something more between us." Guan just shakes his head, his green eyes shining in amusement since he's used to my sex jokes, and walk away towards the exit. Before I follow him, I make the girls gripping onto my legs release me and wink to the four aroused females with a sexy smirk on my face. I don't stop to see their reactions but I follow my friend instead. My legs are a little stiff at first since I sat there for nearly an hour, flirting with the four girls at the same time.

I must proudly present that I've mastered my face-mask fully. It was hard because of my bad temperament, but after two cycles of training, I've finally succeeded and I can change between any personalities I want whenever I want. The ones I use the most are 'playful' and 'sexy' when I'm flirting with girls and socialize with Guan. I'm almost always flirting with girls, I just love their reactions when I say certain things to them or just wink at them. And It's always nice to have some 'fun time' since I couldn't have it in the last cycle.

It doesn't take long for me and Guan to get out from the guild and start running across rooftops towards our goal. Apparently, one of our allies specifically wanted me to come to their mansion alone so we could discuss our alliance. But it should be someone who's picked by the elders who would go to that meeting. This leads to the conclusion that they want me dead since I'm such a successful assassin and that's why I have a partner for this mission who'll hide in the shadows and take out eventual assassins before they can strike. If they strike before that, he'll be there as backup.

The idea of killing gets me riled up, but I hide it behind my, for once, serious face-mask since I'm not alone this time. If he were to see the real me, I would have to kill him during this mission, but I can't kill him here when we're still out in the open. But why would I want to kill him anyway? He's the first friend I've had in 6 cycles.

While those thoughts are going around in my head, constantly contradicting each other and slowly contributing to my developing headache (which doesn't help my mood in the slightest) we arrive at the location of the mission and proceed in completing it. Killing, unsurprisingly, somewhat lightens my bad mood. That aside, though, the mission did not exactly end like we thought it would...

As I'm standing in front of the master's dead body, the mission being complete without any further complications other than my blood lust side coming out. Guan looked at me weirdly the first time I laughed when I cut someone down; I could feel his eyes on my back but his look quickly disappeared since he had to focus on the fight. Although, the master's last words must have raised some suspicion within my friend…__"He's a demon that must be eliminated; enjoying the pain of others isn't something an assassin should do. He is an dishonour to his profession."

He must have had spies who watched me as I did other missions and painted with my victims' blood, otherwise he would not have had any grounds to base that statement on. But what will I do now? Guan knows how I am. What will happen now?

"Yen…? What the hell was that…?" He asks me with confusion and betrayal in his voice. I can picture his crestfallen face even though he's standing behind me. I for a moment consider telling him the truth but I stop in my thoughts and think over how my friendship with Guan really affects me. Is it really worth letting him live? I'm letting my guard down around him, right now I'm actually considering telling him my biggest secret and he has actually delayed__my real mission. When I should have gone out to another country to delete an organization on a free day, I hung out with Guan instead. When I should have visited Father's grave, I ate dinner with Guan and came late. Guan has actually hindered me from being with my real family and from continuing with my mission. Now that I think about it like this, I'm disgusted with myself that I forgot about it all just because of some friendship.

That settles it, he has to disappear… The hole might get bigger, but I can't have this kind of friendship when my real mission is at stake.

I look over my shoulder so I can look at my friend, a blank face looking at a crestfallen one. We don't say anything at first, just staring at each other with Guan trying to read what I'm thinking.

"Yen, wha-… He called you a demon, why didn't you tell me you liked killing so much?"

I turn around fully, my blank face still intact as I speak in a calm tone.

"You thought I told you everything, but I have never told you anything that's true about me."

He takes a small step back in shock and confusion, his mouth opened to ask me a question, but I cut him off by talking again.

"I guess it's time to show you, who I really am." With that, I remove my face mask and a cruel smile immediately takes my neutral one, my eyes get a crazy glint to them because of all the blood around me and the whole me Guan thought I was is replaced with darkness and cruelty, literally radiating those negative things from my skin. Blood has that kind of effect on me. I see Guan shiver and my smile grows wider at his sudden fear. To further scare him before his death, I bend down so I can dip my fingers in some warm blood lying in a pool on the floor. My fingers are dripping with the wonderful red colour and I turn my hand upwards so the colour can course down my hand. While I do this, I look at Guan to see his reaction; he's torn between shock, betrayal, fear and confusion. He doesn't know how to take all this, that's good.

I slowly walk forward towards him, still holding my hand upwards in front of me and the blood slowly dripping of my hand. Guan stands still, but I can see him consider running away because of my expression.

"Do you know why he called me a demon? He thought it was only because I love blood and killing, but he couldn't be more right about his reference concerning the real me." I start out, stopping about five feet away from my friend. Before I continue speaking though, I stretch out my time energy to see if anyone is alive, no one should hear about me and stay alive. I'll only tell Guan because he'll die here anyway.

Luckily, I can't find anyone that's even close to hearing distance and that person isn't even moving in this direction. Although, I can feel recording cameras and I pull out some knives from my belt and hurl them towards the three cameras, but also some kind of listener, with my bloodied hand. When the task is done, I once again look towards my friend who is now on guard because I threw knives.

"You see, it's not only because I love killing people, but also because I've killed so many people. And have you heard that demons are immortal? Well, that may fit for me too."

"Because you're the reincarnation of a successful assassin from a long time ago?" Oh, so he has calmed down now? That's no fun.

I shake my head at his question, grinning as I imagine his reaction to what I'm about to say next. "Not quite. I, myself, am immortal. I'm still the same person I was way back then."

Guan tense up and a few sweat drops emerge from his forehead as he realize what that means, he's no idiot so I would be surprised if he didn't get it.

"Y-you mean? You're-?"

Wanting to see his eyes grow even wider, I answer his unfinished question, my arms spreading out as if I'm embracing the world.

"That´s right, I'm not reborn, I simply become young again, and again, and again. I still have the same memories, still the same dead family but much more improved skills for each life I live through. You can call me, immortal."

Like I thought, his eyes grow even wider and I take pleasure in seeing his confusion and shock over what I've just revealed for him. Maybe fooling him will be a lot more fun way to play with him than terrifying him? Let's test it out…

I put on my face mask with a small smile, my murderous aura disappearing as I walk over to him, putting a hand comfortably on his shoulder. Guan flinch when I place my hand on his shoulder, but relax once he sees that I've hidden my real personality.

"So, now you know my biggest secret, you can't tell anyone, ok? If you do, I would have to leave from the country forever."

Guan mutely nods, still a little too shaken to form any words at the moment. I pat his shoulder, my smile telling him that I'm satisfied and I turn around and walk towards the exit of the mansion.

"Good, now I have to go back and announce the mission as a success."

"Yeah… Wait- you?"

I look at him from over my shoulder, raising an eyebrow at him and tell his like it's the most obvious thing ever, grinning evilly from behind my mask.

"Well, yeah. 'Cause dead people can't tell anyone, right?"

Before he even gets the chance to think over my words, I'm already rushing towards him with my kusarigama ready to strike him down. Although, his instincts help him avoid the first slash and he manage to roll away from me. He barely manages to block my second swipe with his ninja sword and he's really shocked and torn at my actions. I keep a blank face, keeping my bloodlust behind my mask with some difficulty and I continue to slash at him, simply playing with him a little bit for now.

It isn't until he's overcome his shock that I get serious and I quickly gain the advantage. He's tired from fighting but since I drained time energy, I feel almost better than before and it doesn't take long until I've got him pinned to the ground, his weapon far away from him, his hands tied with the chain on my weapon and his legs broken with me sitting on his hands on top of his chest. Just one swipe across the neck, and he won't bother me anymore. But his eyes make me hesitate a little.

Those green eyes which have been my company for this whole cycle and made me almost forget the hole in my chest. Those green eyes are staring at me, trying to make me back down with the amount of confidence they have. I lift the hand with my blade, my other hand holding onto his neck so he can't try to get up but when Guan speaks, I stop slightly to hear his last words.

"Why the hell are you doing this Yen? We've been best friends for all this time and now you'll kill me just because I know some secret? That's a sick and twisted reason to kill a friend! What the hell has happened to you to make you behave__like this?!"

I stare at him for a while, letting the silence drag out for a while before I finally remove my face mask to reveal my cruel smile. Now, I have to do it, no turning back. I have to kill the last amount of possibility to create a strong bond like this; I have to destroy that small part of me which still wants affection by killing my friend. It has to be done.

"_Everything_ has happened to me; my parents' death, my friends' death, solitude, torture, corruption, hate, insanity, _time_. It has left__me in an empty void, a void that can never be filled. The way I've come to cope with it is to kill and destroy, all while working towards one single goal. I'll destroy all the assassins and I won't let anyone, not even a friend, steer me away from that goal. You'll talk, no one can hold this kind of secret, and so the only solution is to kill you. Although, I have to thank you for giving me a friendship the likes of which I haven't had in a long time. I'll see you in the afterlife; we'll both go to the same place anyway."

After that, I push away any doubt I have left and let my blade descend towards his head, piercing his skull. His eyes are focused on me for two more seconds before getting that blank, dead stare I am so used to by now. Even so, this stare seems to be much worse than anything I received from him when he was still alive…

I stand up, unwrap my chain from his hands and rip out my blade. Without waiting there any longer, I walk away with a pulsing pain in my chest and a few tears running down my cheeks.

It had to be done… He would have talked… To keep my secret safe and to keep my mind on my mission, I had to do it… But those green eyes would haunt me for a long time… Much longer than what I would have imagined…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

**2275 - 6****th**** August - 01:02**

I stare at my newly__forged blade, marveling the fact that I've done it by myself. It has taken me eight years to design it and three years to forge this sword. Now it's finally finished; a blade that has time energy fused inside of its blade and hilt in hope to give the sword larger amount of power to destroy and kill. The sheath also has time energy inside of it to contain the energy in the blade, or else it will leak out and my hard work would be useless.

The idea of making a living blade came to me when I looked at the old CD the living protection program was in, what if I made a blade alive in the same sense? What if I could fuse metal with time energy so I could use the blade in the most effective way possible? After 11 years, thought have become reality. And now it's time to test it out…

I slowly sheath my new blade and put it on my back underneath my jacket with the hilt facing downwards. There's a small plastic hook that holds the sword in its place by the handle. The handle has a small hole which has been made for the hook to hold on to, so I don't have to worry about the sword slipping out.

Today will be the first day that I test out my sword, I wonder if it'll be like I've planned or if it's completely different. Even though, I'm positive that it will fit my fighting style no matter how it is. It does have a part of me inside of it after all.

With a smirk, I walk out from the blacksmith towards the elder's table to get my first mission for the night. I hope it involves mass-killing, that's always the best job. When I appear at the elder's table, I simply receive a paper with my mission instructions and then I have to leave. Three elders were recently killed while they were doing an alliance mission so they still have some difficulty in organizing and it can take hours until you get your mission. That way, long lines would be created towards the elder table so I always make sure that I arrive at least two hours later than the time you're supposed to be there, I don't want to stand there two hours before the mission table opens and I really don't want to stand in line, my patience wouldn't be able to take that.

I'm reading my mission letter as I'm on my way outside, waving towards a few people who say hi to me without paying them any real attention. I'm supposed to wipe out a small organization that's slowly growing more powerful and is a potential enemy in the future. Right now, there are about 40-50 people a part of the organization so it shouldn't be too hard to take down. Although, the mission letter also mentions that I will be the leader of a five-man team, we're supposed to depart in 15 minutes. Tche, screw teammates, I can do this myself. If they had been more organized, they would have let me do this kind of mission by myself. I wiped out a street gang who were messing with our informatorwhen I was 15 in this cycle and there were at least 60 of them in that dump of theirs. Sure, they weren't professional fighters, but I could have taken on more of them and the elders know it. I'm the 'reincarnation' after all.

I fold the paper and put it in the inside pocket of my black wind jacket and walk with more hurried steps towards the exit. Sadly for me, my teammates are the early bunch and they're already there. The teammate's names were clearly written on the paper so they know that I'm a part of their team, damn…

"Hey, Sein! You're our team leader, right?" A girl a few years older than me ask with a bright smile on her face, but her eyes are cold sinceshe has seen death so many times. Most assassins tend to show less emotions to hide their grief and keep their sanity, just like this woman does. I nod my head and look around at each face of my team. They're all slightly older than I am right now, but I can see respect in all of their eyes of making me their team leader. Everyone knows what I can do and how well I can do missions it seems, good.

"Enough chit-chat. Let's go. Don't give me any stupid questions or requests unless it's absolutely necessary. I usually work alone, so it's safe to say that when we fight, don't fight close to me. You might get in my way."

They all nod in understanding and they let me pass them so that I can run at the head of the group with the other four following closely behind me. It will take about an hour to get to the location if we keep up this pace the whole way there. I know I can, but the question is if my teammates do… Tche, why must I have teammates for this job? It's only going to be a nuisance.

After 30 minutes of constant running and jumping over the rooftops, one of the male teammates run a little faster so he can run next to me, don't tell me he has a stupid question?

"Sein, sir? Can I ask you something?"

I give him a blank stare, recognizing the face but can't connect it to a name, and nod my head but giving him a stare that says 'but it better be something that won't waste my time'.

"Could we go a little slower, we have great stamina but at this rate, we'll be dead tired when we arrive at the location and we won't be able to defend ourselves if there is an ambush at the location."

I inwardly frown at his question, he wants to go slower? But then it'll take longer for me to use my new weapon. But he does have a point, they'll be dead tired if we continue running this fast, but that could also be a good thing because then they wouldn't get in my way. And also, I want to finish this as quickly as possible so that I have a lot of time later during the night to continue with my real mission. If you think about that, the best thing is to leave them behind, but this is Guan's brother's son bearing the same, green haunting eyes as his dead uncle. When I think about Guan and those haunting dead eyes, I divert my gaze from the man's and slow down my pace so that the others can take it a little easier. The teammates run past me, but once they realize I've slowed down, they too slow down and once again take their position behind me. The man speaks up from behind me.

"Thank you Sein. I-."

"Don't thank me just yet." I interrupt him. "I have a brand new weapon that I'm dying to try out, so if any of you ask a question while we're running towards our mission, that person will be the first one I test it on. And you," I look at the man from over my shoulder, glaring angrily at him as his eyes bring up so many more horrid memories. "Don't look at me like that ever again; I hate those green eyes of yours."

The four teammates nod in understanding and I look forward again. They didn't say anything else during the trip.

When we arrive at the location, we stop on top of a roof to look down at the abandoned house this organization has taken as their stronghold. The house is standing in the middle of a clearing in the middle of the small 'forest', if you even can call the group of trees a forest. It's not really small, but it's not large either. We've been reported that they're constructing an underground facility underneath the house so most of the members are probably underneath the ground. I survey my surroundings and immediately spot a few assassins of this guild, who are all hidden very poorly. I point at the woman and a man who's the second shortest of our group, me being the shortest of us all.

"You and you, you two take out the guards in the trees. I hope you can see them as well as I do." I tell them and both of them nod at my instructions. I continue explaining what to do, not lowering my voice since those who try to hide can't possibly hear us from this distance. "After you've taken care of the visible guards in the trees, you'll give us a small sign to go inside the house and then you'll continue searching the forest for anyone you missed. You other two, you will follow me inside the building. You will search the house and kill any organization member that you see, but all children under 8 will be captured and bound. Those children can be used in our own organization but if they put up too much of a fight, kill them. While you're doing that, I will search for a way to the underground facility. When I find it, I'll tell you four and depending on who's done with what they're assigned to do, they'll follow me in. In the underground facility, I'll go straight for the leader and cut down anyone who's in my way, so you better not be one of those foolish people. Understand?"

They all nod and together, we jump down from the roof and land quietly on a balcony. We proceed to jump from balcony to balcony until we're close enough to the ground so we won't break any bones if we drop down from our height. Once we're on the ground, I nod towards the woman and the short man; they disappear swiftly into the darkness of the forest. I and the other two run into the forest after them and hide in the shadows once we can see the house.

I look at the house, searching for anything that can indicate that there are people there. There's nothing if you don't count the clean porch while the other parts of the house is dusty. Also, I can see that the door has been slightly repaired, but it's still hanging a little askew for show.

I can see the woman waving shortly towards us from the edge of the clearing as signal before she once again disappears into the trees and that's our cue to infiltrate the house. We move quickly, running across the high grass towards the porch. I open the door slowly, peeking around it and pulling downmy balaclavaa little lower so my white hair won't show in the darkness. I can't sense anyone in the hall and I slip inside followed by the other two, I nod towards them, pointing up to the second floor before I move towards the living room of the broken house. I can hear the men slowly creep up the stairs, but I pay it no mind and follow the footprints in the dust. They cross everywhere to make people confused, but by just a quick analysis, my eyes land on the spot where the way towards the underground building is. It's behind the bookshelf. There aren't any tracks in the dust where the shelf has been pulled aside, so I guess it goes inwards.

I walk towards the bookshelf, smirking as I hear the sound of a quiet battle from upstairs; those guys are doing their job, good. I study the bookshelf, trying to find where the switch is. There are two books that aren't dusty, one to fool and one that's the real one. I study the two books closer, one book is thick, and the other small and the thin one is directly underneath the thick one so both could be the fooling one. Which one was touched last? My time energy says it's the thin one, so I'll try that one.

As I'm pulling out the thin book, I can hear a small 'click' from the bookshelf and when I pull the book out to its max, the bookshelf slowly move inwards. By now, the sound of fighting has died out from upstairs and I look over my shoulder just in time to see the two men coming down, carrying 2 children with them. They look about the age of 5 and 6, they're lucky I gave them orders to spare such young children. After a few seconds, I feel the last two approaching the house and I look towards the door just in time to see them walk inside with another kid tied up with them. So there were kids outside of the house, I wonder what he was doing. He's about 8 years old and is fighting the woman unlike the other two. When the 8-year old is dropped off where the other two younger kids are, the younger kids huddle closer to the older one and said boy glare up at us.

I walk forward, leaving the door open, and kick the glaring boy in the face, this makes the boy glare even more but I stop his glare by grabbing his chin and smirk at him cruelly.

"You better be grateful that I ordered them not to kill children below 8, or else, you would be lying in a beautiful pool of red blood. Now, just sit there and be nice and we won't have to kill you. Your whole family is going to be wiped out and there's nothing you can do about it. We're too strong, you're too weak. If you wanted to be strong, you should have joined a real organization like us instead of a wanna-be one."

I grin broadly at the horrified look on his face and I release his chin roughly, standing up and walk towards the open door, looking towards the woman and the man with green eyes, nodding towards them to stay and watch the kids. They nod in understanding and the last two men and I walk inside the underground facility, the oldest boy screaming towards us loudly from behind his gag, but am quickly silenced with a kick towards his face again. That kid got some spunk, I have to admit that.

After the opposing threat is wiped out, I have a very pleased smile on my face. I got some new recruits and the sword worked just like I thought it would. Although, I had to tell it to wake up in order for it to work. It drained my enemies' time energy and transferred that time energy to me. A one-slash kill, you get a scratch from this, and you die instantly. The expressions they had when I first managed to suck out the time energy of someone with my sword, marvelous. They tried to stay clear from me as much as they could, but their death was inevitable. They started screaming that I have some kind of deadly poison on my blade. That could be possible, but that wasn't the case this time.

The five year old is a girl, weeping loudly from behind her gag and being carried by the short man bridal style to give her as comfortable of a ride as possible since she didn't fight us at all. The other 6-year old boy is slung over the second man's shoulder and is weeping just as much as the little girl. The ameteur gang must have been like a real family to these kids, well too bad for them. This is the life of an assassin.

The 8-year old is surprisingly cooperative during the whole trip and doesn't do anything drastic from the green-eyed man's shoulder. The woman is running in the back, on the lookout for any enemies and to make sure that the kids doesn't leave any kind of trail that someone can follow. It isn't until they're all put in front of the elders that the 8-year old start to struggle and the other two have dried their tears. I remove the girl's and the younger boy's gags first, they don't say anything. But when I remove the 8-year old's gag, he starts screaming.

"Fuck you guys! You think I'm going to join another fucking organization just because mine got eliminated!? Then think again! I would never go so low as to abandon my family! I'll escape the first chance I get!"

The elders, who have been discussing the mission with the green eyed man and why we've brought kids with us is silenced at the boy's outburst. My temper flares and I take a hold of the boy's neck, squeezing it and lifting him up in the air so he can barely breathe. I'm glaring at him angrily with my hand slowly moving towards my sword on my back.

"What did I tell you, you little shit? You better be grateful that I made those guys spare your life just because you're young. It's one of the things an assassin must do, think of the best ways to get new recruits. And the best way to recruit members in my opinion is to recruit children who have been a part of an organization, children who doesn't have anything to run back to, and make our organization their home. You don't really have a choice here, kid. Either you stay in this organization and are safe, or you die right here by my blade. I personally prefer the blade one actually, I like killing very much."

I let go of the boy's neck and let him fall heavily to the floor, coughing for breath. The two younger children scream out his name in worry. I smirk down at the boy who's weakly glaring up at me with his blue eyes. I slowly pull out my sword from its sheath while I talk.

"Chou, huh? Well, I got to admit; you've got some spunk, kid. There aren't many who can have that kind of bravery that you have. You've lost something dear to you before you joined that wanna-be organization, right? That's why you wanted to become stronger; you joined a gang team who soon would become an assassin's guild to be able to protect something. But what good is it now? In the life of an assassin, you always lose something dear to you. You don't have anything to protect anymore other than these two kids that you know. And do you seriously think you are any match for me? I can kill you with one cut, that's all I need. If you want to be alive, the only thing you have to do is swear your loyalty towards the guild. I may be a cold-blooded killer, but I do follow the rules from time to time. Although, I have to admit, a child screaming in pain sounds much more beautiful than a grown-up doing the same."

I can see Chou shiver in fright at my last words, but the adults around me doesn't react since they've heard it before. The two younger children are huddled close together and shivering in fright over me. But when I look at Chou again, I can see that he has frozen up, as if he just realized something when I looked towards the other two children. I think he has made up his mind now.

"Well, Sein, I now understand your reason for bringing children with you, it's a good thing that you're thinking about the organizations future." One of the elders says pleasantly, making me turn towards him and look as he strokes his beard thoughtfully. "But there's one important question, who will take care of these children? They can't live here unsupervised and without someone to take care of them, they're still young."

I shrug my shoulders, settling my gaze on the teammates I went on the mission with. "Do any of you want to take care of a brat?" The woman nods and looks down at the still frightened girl.

"I wouldn't mind taking care of the girl, but if none of you want to take care of the younger boy, I can take care of the two children. They seem to know each other very well and it would be a shame to separate them."

At the woman's words, I can feel the excitement radiating off the two younger kids, but there's still the problem with the oldest kid. Who will take care of him? The green-eyed guy voices my question to the elders.

"Well, why don't Sein take care of him?"

I glare murderously at the elder, the air around my darkening as I growl at him.

"I. Will. What?" The elder stares calmly at me and I realize I lost my face mask, but quickly put it back on again, the dark aura slowly disappearing as I'm pretending to calm down with a hand to my forehead.

"Why not take care of him? It can be a great way to develop, you don't have any family since they died when you were very young and you don't have any siblings or friends. You are 25, but have no interest in family, so why not adopt this boy as a start to creating a bond? It'll be the first bond you've ever had."

I stare up at the elder, removing the hand from my face and calmly speak back. "I have to disagree with you, elder. I am the reincarnation; I know I will die early. It might take just a few years before I die too so who will take care of the kid then? Also, I don't socialize with anyone, that's not my expertise. I kill people, that's what I do. You trained me to be a cold-blooded killer, but now you want me to take care of a child? Are you trying to make me regain emotions that I've lost? Because it won't work that way. Also, why do you think I'm the best man for the job? For all I know, he might get so much on my nerves that I kill him in his sleep. It would just be a wasted effort to put him under my protection."

"But, because your previous generations have all passed down their money to you, you are the richest assassin here in Xian Hong and not to mention the most skilled one. You can teach this boy some things that the school can't and I can see a lot of potential in the child. If I put the child in someone else's care, that talent might go to waste and he might never bloom. And I believe that you will live long enough so the boy can take care of himself when you pass away."

"But-"

"Now that I realize what my colleague is going at, I must say that it's a very good idea. Sein Jun, taking care of the boy isn't an option anymore, it's an order. And you are not allowed to kill him and you will teach him everything he needs to know to survive here in Xian Hong."

I glare at the two elders before I slowly turn around towards Chou who have managed to sit up during our conversation. He's torn between being afraid and relieved that he'll get a caretaker. I cut his ropes off, not letting the blade cut through him and I briskly walk off towards my room. When I don't hear footsteps behind me, I yell at the boy to hurry it up. After that, he runs after me.

That's the first 'child' I ever had… It wasn't a wonderful experience, but I would lie if I said that it was a terrible one… When he got over his 'defiant age', he began to accept me and became similar to how I was when I had my face mask on… … I guess… He was the only one I regretted leaving behind when it was time to end the cycle…

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400 years… Today is my real birthday, signifying that I've existed in this world for 400 years… The time has passed so quickly yet so very slow. I've experienced more things than any normal person would do even if you gave them 1000 years. I've seen the world change around me and I have changed with it. The assassins, they barely show any emotions anymore. It feels as though the emotions that they abandon get sucked inside me… I'm getting darker with every year that passes by. The only thing that keeps the small light I have left from going outis the memories of my real parents. But that light can easily be extinguished... I wonder how long I can hold on to that little light… To myself. Because__if the light disappears, I'll be no one.

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	26. Catching up, breaking free

Yaaaaaahoooooo! –spins around holding my favorite stuffed animal close to my chest-

Heng Shi: … What are you so happy about?

No one voted for you to get free, so I don't have to free you~! –Holds the fat, stuffed cat close to his face-

Heng Shi: -Leans away with a frown- Fuck, I thought those stupid readers would sympathize with me more after that chapter… Bastards…

Ah, ah aaah! –Hugs the cat again while wagging a finger in front of his face disapprovingly- You say 'fudges' my dear Heng Shi, not fuck. That's a bad word, you know.

Heng Shi: Whatever… -looks away while trying to unlock one of the locks binding his chains together without me noticing-

Well, guys! I am back! Much sooner than I anticipated, but I got such an inspiration kick for this story that I started writing on this immediately after the birthday chapter was posted. I should update my FMA story, '12 again' but if you get an inspiration kick for a story, you have to write for that story. If not, the kick will disappear and it will take months before you get it again. Which has happened many times for me regarding the stories I'm posting… heh… -Bows deeply- I'm sorry!

Heng Shi: Idiot, what makes you think I'll ever forgive you?

-turns towards Heng Shi, he quickly stops working on the lock with his time energy- I'm not apologizing to you, I'm apologizing to my readers for getting so caught up with other stories and stuff like that. Anyway, -turn towards readers- have you seen my new stuffed animal? Isn't he cute?! –Shows up a big, fat, fuzzy, white cat with no arms or legs with a sleeping face on- His name is Bubblan! A Swedish version of Bubbles! He's really cozy and helps me sleep, never underestimate the power of a stuffed animal!

Heng Shi: Tche, childish.

Hey, it's not that childish. He's really comfy, ok?

Heng Shi: Yeah, yeah, say whatever you want kid.

Dummy… Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Me and Bubblan are gonna stay here until the end!

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I'm walking down the corridor with a student trailing behind me as I guide them to the different room where they'll have their classes with a schedule in my hand. I have an easy-going smile as I point towards the different rooms.

"And that's the music room, room 394. The music teacher here is Mr. Williams, but I don't meet him very often. In here, you can find all kinds of instruments. Further down this corridor is the Chinese class, it seems like you and I are taking similar courses so if you have any trouble, you could ask me or the school president, Jing. You must have a map of this place so I suppose it won't be too hard to find your way around here. I've been here for a few months and I still haven't been everywhere in this school."

"So I won't be able to see you often?"

I turn around my head so that I can look at the student from over my shoulder, my smile still in place.

"You have a total of 10 classes where 6 of them is the same class as I. The IP is divided between genders so I guess that counts as a separate class as well."

As I turn around my head again after getting a small 'alright' from the person behind me, I silently curse my luck. What did I do to deserve this? I frown slightly; I thought it was that Jing's duty to welcome new students. My frown gets deeper as I think back to this morning.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

_I'm walking towards school's door in silence, my backpack on my back and hands resting on the straps. Students left and right greet me and I nod in recognition towards most of them. I can feel someone collide against my back, the force almost making me topple over, but I catch myself at the last second and manage to uphold the weight of two people. I slowly stand up and look over my shoulder to see who it was that bumped into me._

_A mess of brown hair and shocked blue eyes meet my gaze and the girl quickly straightens, waving her hands in front of her in a fretting manner. She has the normal school attire and her brown hair reaches the middle of her back. It's messy, as if she just woke up, but her eyes are very awake and panicked after she ran into me._

"_I-I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to run into you! I'm really sorry!"_

_I straighten myself calmly, smiling slightly at the girl who's a little shorter than I am. I can't remember that I've seen her before. But I'm glad that she at least isn't a fan-girl; those types of girls are crazy._

"_It's no problem; the important thing is that you didn't get hurt, right? Are you a new student here?"_

_The girl smiles happily, nodding her head in confirmation._

"_Yes, I am! I came back from my father's business trip yesterday, so I start school today. Are you a part of the student council?"_

_I chuckle slightly, making my way towards the doors again with the new girl walking by my side. I smile at her kindly._

"_No, I'm not. But I can show you the way towards the student council room, it's really easy to get lost in this huge school."_

"_Thank you so much!"_

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That damn Jing, making the excuse that she has a lot of things to do and that way force me to show her around… all the while smirking with that annoying, amused glint in her eyes. Why couldn't she send that fucking butler of hers?! He was right there! I was this close to strangling her… But since the new student was there, I had to bear with it and be civil towards that president… Really, I hate that girl! Why did I have to sign myself up as her 'underling' during missions!? I am a silent killer; I shouldn't have to go through this kind of humiliation! Why did I decide that working with her was a good idea?!

… Because 'they' are still after me and would notice my way of killing…

But now I'm seriously considering just leaving this fucking school behind and living on old people's energy or hell, even plant energy could work. My enemies are getting closer to me after all; it might be time to move away.

As we stop in front of the principal's office, I turn around towards the blue-eyed girl with a pleasant smile on my face, acting as if those angry thoughts haven't gone through my head.

"Well, this is the principal's office; you'll sign up that you've arrived at the school here. You'll start your lessons tomorrow. I hope you have a great day, Quin Shan."

Quin smiles at me, happy that I remembered her name after she introduced herself on the way towards the council room.

"You too, Heng Ru Shi."

With that said, she opens the door and step inside, the assistant for the principal greeting her. Once the door is closed behind her, I turn around to go to the rooftop with a scowl on my face. I'm content enough that we are going on a mission tomorrow; I hope there will be some complications so that I can gather some time energy. If not, I will risk being noticed and kill a random person. Maybe seduce a slut at a bar or something.

I walk up the familiar stairs to the roof, opening the door to let the cool breeze caress my skin and hair. I sigh in content when the wind seems to blow away all my worries and I step outside, closing the door behind me. I have music now, so there's no use in going to class. And Jing did excuse me for the whole day so I have nothing to worry about. I walk over to the edge of the roof, leaning against the railing while looking out on the big city from the top of the school. All the things I've known has changed so much, it is as if I lived in a whole other world when I think back to the good times.

I sigh slightly, scratching my head as I continue to look at the endless city. I wonder when this will all stop…

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"What the hell is the meaning of this!?" –CRASH-

I'm staring angrily at Jing's calm face, the vase I have broken lying in pieces against the wall. The others in the room are tense, waiting for Jing to give them a signal or something. But she just stands there and stares at me with a blank face.

"Are you saying that there are no others who we have to visit this month!? Were there only two households?!"

My hands twitch in need to strangle to woman in front of me but I stand put, knowing that if I move forward, the others in the council will restrain me. It has been a whole month since I last drained energy! I'm almost out of time! The fucking curse will catch up to me any day now!

"There are no others we have to pursue; they have already paid their support to the school. These last two households were late for their payment and we came there to see if there would be any resistance. Since there were none, our job is done."

I grit my teeth in anger, forcing down a growl as I continue to glare at her. She's so calm that it's infuriating! She's so damn sure of herself that I won't attack, damn that bitch!

I'm just about to scream something else when 'that' feeling starts again. Jing seems to have noticed my change in behavior and an interested glint in her eyes starts to show. I glare at her one last time before I wheel around, stalking towards the door and pushing past that annoying blue-hair. With one last look over my shoulder, I glare at Jing before running out from the room.

I make a bee-line towards the bathroom, knowing that that's where there are least cameras, while taking out a small dagger from my sleeve and heating it up with my energy. I throw up the bathroom door and quickly close it behind me, that's when the aches and paralyzing starts. I scream in pain as my legs buckle under me, but I manage to catch myself from colliding with the floor with the hand that holds my dagger while the other clutches at my heart.

Shit, shit, shit! I haven't heated up the dagger enough yet!

With another scream of pain, blood starts to seep into my shirt and tainting it red. I pick up my dagger, letting go of my chest for the moment and proceed to cut open my uniform where my heart is. I manage to pick myself up slightly with a grunt of pain and I heavily hit my back against the door so I can treat myself better.

With the dagger shaking in my hand, I force more time energy into it, even though it hurts like hell. Once the dagger is hot enough, I quickly press the broad side at where my heart is and scream once again at the enormous pain. Even though I've done this many times before, I can never get used to the feeling of my whole body burning up from the inside. Bracing against the pain, I slowly turn my dagger in a circle all the while letting out silent screams. The first touch is always the worst.

It isn't until the knife has burned the whole wound that I manage to relax, my knife clattering against the floor. This fucking curse, it's one of the huge downfalls this necklace has. My father noticed it at a small scale with his own necklace but it's much worse for mine. I open my eyes, not really remembering when I closed them, and look down to my chest.

Just where my heart resides, is a small circle of black with a blob of grey surrounding it instead of my normal pale skin. I groan in annoyance, hitting my head against the door. So it started today, huh? Well, at least it won't come back until three days.

I sit there for a few more minutes before forcing myself to stand with a small grunt of pain since the after effect haven't really worn off yet. I pick up my bloodied dagger, slipping it back in place inside my sleeve and I survey the amount of blood in the room. It isn't too bad, there's a huge puddle where I'm standing and my uniform pants are completely soaked, but it's been worse. I crouch down and touch the warm blood, a shiver of delight coursing through my body.

I look up to the ceiling, spotting the camera right next to me in the corner. Lucky, it seems like if Jing would have looked through the camera, she wouldn't have been able to see the whole thing. Maybe only my legs and a pool of blood slowly spreading from me. There aren't any other cameras in the room other than this one, just like I thought. I take out one of my knives from my hip and hurl it with precision into the camera, impaling it in its lens. I sigh in relief, glad that she can't see me anymore and take off my necklace from around my neck, dangling it in front of me and staring at its eternal sand running through the hourglass.

I slowly lower the necklace towards the puddle of blood, the necklace starting to shine slightly in response. Once the necklace is touching the puddle of blood, I let it go. The necklace then proceeds to suck up the blood until there's only small stains here and there left.

It isn't until the necklace has stopped glowing that I pick it up again, smirking at it with a far-away look in my eyes.

"You always want something of mine, don't you? No matter what it is… You greedy bastard."

As if responding to me, its chain sends a small pulse through my body and I sigh in defeat.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it. You're the boss." I say dryly while putting it on, the necklace pulse again before going quiet.

Ignoring the rest of my mess, I stop time and step out from the bathroom. No one's outside the door, but I do see Jing coming this way with a slight frown on her face in either frustration or thought. I guess she wants to question me or something, but I won't let her do that.

I close the bathroom door and quickly run down the corridor towards the exit but it isn't until I'm outside the school gate that I start time again. There's a camera at the gate so I want to walk by it like nothing happened to confuse them even more. With my hands in my pockets, I reverse the time for my clothes so they don't have blood on them, but I don't fix the rip in my chest. I walk by the camera calmly, not sparing it a glance and I can almost see the other's confused stares since I was in the bathroom close to the council room just a few minutes before. But that is if they are even watching the security cameras.

I love confusing people.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

It isn't until three days later that something interesting happens. During these three days, Quin has continuously talked to me whenever she had the chance. She isn't a fan-girl like almost all other girls, who glared at Quin when they saw her talking to me, but I get the feeling that she's still after something. I haven't voiced this out loud, but I decided to play her game for a while longer.

Now, back to this fourth day.

I got the duty to clean the dojo after karate practice and when I was done, Jing's butler came to me and said that I should help them close the school for the night. Not really surprising since I know Jing takes pleasure in forcing me to work, that bitch. I got signed up to bar windows and lock doors in one area of the school while the others in the council take other areas. Here's where it gets exciting…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Locking one of the 120 doors in my area, I scowl in annoyance. This must be punishment for not answering Jing's questions this morning, why should I talk about what happened in the bathroom? It's _m_y fucking curse so only _I_ should know about it. And maybe Garel as well… Fuck, Gim knows as well… I really shouldn't have trusted anyone in my guild. That old man was a manipulative bastard now that I think back on it.

I lock another door, the click of the lock echoing through the long corridor. Only 114 more to go… I sigh but continue doing my task either way. Once you've started something, you have to finish it.

I quickly duck to the floor when I hear a swishing sound go through the air, if I hadn't ducked, my head would have gotten impaled by a knife instead of it clattering harmlessly over the floor. I stretch out my senses, feeling the presences of at least 20 people, maybe more. Considering that I haven't noticed them till now, I can assume they are well trained assassins. I grin as I slowly stand up in my normal fighting position, my back against the wall and facing my enemies who are hiding in the shadows. This will be fun… Although, I'm a little disappointed in myself; I should have noticed them earlier. I've had it a little too safe lately.

"Well, well. What do we have here? A small army of assassins just to get me? I must say that I feel a little star struck."

As if to answer my call, the assassins come out from the shadows to surround me, there being at least 20 of them just like I thought. Although, there are more hiding as back-up. My grin grows wider and I crack my neck as I prepare myself for a fight. To my surprise, though, none of them jump to attack me; instead the assassin in front of me starts to speak but he still keeps his distance.

"Garel Evans, we are here to bring you with us to our organization Raven Wing. Since you are a rogue of Xian Hong, we have been searching for you to provide you protection from being killed. You are a skilled assassin and the one Xian Hong calls the reincarnation of the White Snake. We would be honored to have you in our ranks."

I stare at him blankly. Do they really think that I'll believe that? It's half true, but come on; Raven Wing is one of the organizations which have been lurking around trying to find our hideout and they must have gotten a hold of some of those information leaks we've had. I trusted Gim enough to tell him about my powers and then suddenly everyone in Xian Hong knew about it. It was only a question of time before the information spread outside the organisation, really, so I wasn't all that surprised that they'd heard about my powers. And if they've heard about my powers, then they'd obviously want me for them. My title as rogue is only an convenient excuse for them to get me on their side.

"You think I would believe that? You want to protect me? As if; you just want to use me for your organization's benefits."

The leader assassin's eyes narrow as he draws out his weapons; two swords. The other assassins follow his example and I smirk at the clear message.

"_If we can't make you come willingly, we'll take you by force."_

I sigh in annoyance at their idiocy, but don't draw out my sword; fooling them should be a lot of fun, especially considering that they are assassins. They should provide a bit of challenge. It has been a while since I fooled anyone that badly, too... time to put on a face mask.

I hold up my hands in a kind of surrender, shaking my head with my smirk still in place.

"Why would you need to bring a small army though? Are you that scared of me? Those little mice hiding in the shadows, are they too afraid to meet the cat? Or are they just there because you say so? Either way, it doesn't matter. If I want to kill them, they're dead. But I won't do any unnecessary kills no matter what you've heard of me**.**" I cross my arms calmly over my chest as they get even warier than before; they're not so stupid as to believe me immediately. Oh how fun it will be to build their hopes just to crush them after I bring out my trump card.

"You know, it's annoying when someone doesn't face me with their full strength. How about this, if you let all your little mice come forward, I'll concede depending on your numbers, alright? If you're over 40, I'll surrender. But if you're under 40, I'll kill you all. Here, take this, now I can't attack you by surprise." I take off my necklace using the clips and throw it to the assassin next to the leader. They all look at me in shock, obviously knowing that my necklace is the source of my powers. With narrowed eyes looking at the necklace, the leader waves forth his hidden assassins. I start to count them calmly while standing on my toes to look over all the tall people.

"2,4,6,8,10,12,14… 45. Well, it seems like you're over 40, I admit, I surrender." I start to smirk cockily, preparing to draw out my sword. Time to spring my little mouse-trap.

Suddenly, my necklace starts to glow and the man holding it starts screaming in pain. The others tense up at the sudden noise but I simply crouch down, my hand turned upwards and pointing towards the screaming man. His screams die out and he slowly turns into dust. the moment his hand dissolves, the necklace shoots out from it, the hourglass pulling the chain as if it's being drawn towards me by an invisible force.

I lower my hand to the ground and once it touches my finger, the chain wraps itself around it and quickly crawls up to my wrist hanging on tightly, but it's slowly moving uptowards my neck from under the sleeve of my shirt. While this is happening, I look at the group of assassins with a grin on my face.

"Of course, I mean surrender you all to death."

With that, I disappear from their sight by stopping time. I quickly take out my sword, awakening it by stroking Siwang Shumo's blade, and slash the throats of some of them - an easy way for an assured kill - to thin their number, leaving about a fourth of them.

Soon after time has started again, those who I slashed remain standing for about two seconds before they crumple to the ground with blood gushing out from their throats. I smirk at the ones who are left, their faces showing slight shock and horror before they compose themselves and quickly jump back to gain distance. Those faces were hilarious! I knew it was worth it to fool them this way. Now, let's have a slight dance, it has been a while.

I take out my hidden knife so I can use both hands to block attacks. I move onto my practiced style for dual weapons with one short weapon and one long weapon, it's like a self-made dance.

"You are all fools for believing in me. The White Snake has always been deceiving and taking on a dual impression. How could you have forgotten that? You'll now die for your clumsy mistake."

After saying that, I attack.

It's quite fun and I can feel myself enjoying the workout I'm experiencing. Short block, long cut, short cut, long block, short block, and so on. When the assassins have gotten used to my little dance, I change it completely to catch them off guard. It takes many years of practice to use the same weapon but have two different styles of attacking. Their shocked reactions were really amusing but this time they composed themselves sooner than last time. But I'm a little disappointed that those assassins who hid in the shadows before go back into hiding. No matter where they're hiding, I'll be able to find them to cut them down. I'll give them slight mercy and let them flee for the moment. I'll kill those who are visible first.

My attackers fall back to regroup and I stand still, surrounded by many dead bodies, either cut to be killed immediately or to drain them empty of energy. They have been reduced by a lot, there are only 8 left now and counting the bodies on the floor I count them to being 26 from the beginning with others still hiding in the shadows. I even feel tired; I've really had it too safe up until now. But oh, well. It's good for me to work out some.

Wiping some sweat from my forehead, I place myself in a fighting stance once again with a grin on my face, waiting for them to make the first move. The leader hasn't attacked me yet, only standing in the back and given orders on how to attack and work together. I must say, he is a great leader; he's making them work together really well.

"You're handling this well; it's been a long time since I've been this tired from a fight." I pant out, my exhaustion getting the best of me. The other assassins are worse than me though so I guess that's something positive.

"But…" My grin grows wider and I retract my hidden knife. "Killing you all is child's game."

As I stop time again, I jump towards where the assassin closest to me is hiding. Just when I'm standing in front of the plant it's hiding behind, any untrained eye wouldn't be able to notice him in the dark, I start time again to make it seem like I suddenly appear there out of nowhere. I bury my blade deep within the assassin's gut, making him scream out in pain. I drain just the right amount time energy to kill him before I move onto the net hidden victim. It isn't before she is dead that the visible assassins attack me. But I'm too fast for them. Soon, those 7 are dead after cutting them down while the time is stopped.

The leader does a sign and the rest of the assassins come out from the shadows with one jumping behind the leader instead of in front of him, I guess the last one is their trump card. 11 against one, no big deal. Time stops yet again, but what I haven't accounted for was to be shot at while it's stopped. I quickly jump back to avoid the… needles? Fuck, this doesn't look good…

I meet the eyes of the shooter, they standing behind the leader with the weapon pointed towards me. I narrow my eyes at him and start to cut down the assassins standing in my way so I can get to the shooter while the time is still stopped.

Although the shooter shoots at me again and I duck behind one of the frozen assassins for cover. That's when my powers decide to be a bastard towards me… Time starts again and I have to dodge a slash from the assassin I was hiding behind. I stop time again and cut down the assassins while dodging the needles shot from that fucking weapon.

The weapon… It's especially made to make the curse of the necklace react stronger, a weapon which father made in case someone would steal his necklace. It's been in safe-keeping in Xian Hong's vault and it has never been used, but now it's used against me. I forgot to destroy that fucking weapon when I left Xian Hong!

It's metal look a little tainted from age, but it works just fine. It's similar to a rifle but a little simpler since it doesn't use bullets. Inside its magazine is a certain substance which my body will react to badly. The needles which are shot out from the gun are bathing in the substance and they have to be in the substance for at least three minutes before they can be shot. They're shot two and two and to reload the gun, you simply take off the magazine holder and replace the needles with new ones without pouring out the substance.

A non-lethal weapon for anyone except for those who bear the necklace curse… How the hell did Raven Wing get their hands on that? And I didn't know it was a time weapon!

Once all assassins except for the leader and the shooter are cut to death, I start time again and rush towards the shooter. I run in a half circle, getting closer to the two assassins. When the magazine gets empty, I'll end them. The leader seems much more skillful than the other assassins I've fought. That must be why he's the leader after all. I have to get through him to get to the shooter, that much is obvious. Stopping time wouldn't really help since that weapon is a time weapon. And why not test out the strength of the strongest person in the group? It might be fun.

The leader must have seen the determination in my eyes because he draws out his two swords and block my way towards the shooter, just like I anticipated. We dance for a while, me dodging the needles flying towards me but I'm wearing a grin on my face. This guy's really skilful and strong. His style of fighting is quite similar to mine, brutal but fast and coordinated. Where did this guy train? He's great.

I disarm the leader from his swords and make him fall to the ground by kicking the back of his knees and then shoving him hard in the chest so he falls backwards. Although, I shouldn't have looked down to the floor… Needles… Loads of needles lying on the ground and making those horrid memories rise to the surface. What makes me say that I shouldn't have looked at the needles is because I don't focus on anything when those memories come up.

The shooter has a clear shot.

Thanks to the leader moving his head makes me focus again and I quickly dodge the two last needles which are shot at me before I throw my sword in his throat, killing him instantly. What I didn't count for is that the shot which he shot before he died scratches the back side of my hand. It's just enough for the needle to impale my skin and let the substance seep inside my hand. With a panicked face, I rip away the needle from my hand, stumbling backwards and tripping over the leader. When I notice who it is I tripped over, I hit him hard in the chest with my leg before he can rise any more, he was halfway sitting up when I tripped over him.

The leader coughs loudly, holding onto his chest as he falls down to the floor again. Out of accident, I focus on the floor around me again and see the needles. As if mirroring my worst nightmare, hundreds of needles are surrounding me, although they might be less in reality but to me they're everywhere I look. I scramble backwards, the leader assassin disappearing from my vision as I focus on the needles instead. Those horrid images, needles everywhere, always in pain, injected with substance after substance, the enemy trying to make me talk about my organization, more pain, they took my necklace.

I stare down at my shaking hands, they're red with blood but that's not what I'm focusing on. My right hand, where the needle hit me is slowly growing grey, a little dust here and there falling from my hand. I come back to reality when I sense someone getting closer to me and I react instantly. I take out my hidden knife and spring up from my sitting position towards the one who's advancing towards me. I push the person down on the ground and am just about to stab them in the neck when I see their face.

During my panic attack, the leader has taken off their headpiece to breathe easier I believe and I'm staring into a pair of shocked, familiar aqua blue eyes with messy brown hair on the forehead. I stare at him in shock although my body pins him down out of reflex and I don't let him go.

Even if he is my adoptive son.

I smile bitterly, letting out a dry laugh. Chou stares at me in confusion and I can see that there's a battle going on inside him. I guess he's confused why I'm acting so much like his 'father' did towards needles. I have to kill him so why not let him know it's me. Although, I know Jing has microphones here so I better speak quietly and say as little as possible, just to be sure.

"Heh, this is ironic. I can remember many times when I've pinned you down like this during training. So that's why they got the weapon and why your style is so similar to mine, huh? Raven Wing and Xian Hong ganged up together… It's that bastard Gim's fault, he and his stupid set ups."

Chou's eyes widen at my words, his body going slack in shock as he stare deeply into my eyes.

"Y-you are-?"

I give him a small grin and nod in confirmation. He gets this desperate look in his eyes, he's desperate to know something, I recognize that look.

"Bu-but how? I saw you die right in front of me."

"There are many things about me that you don't know. Although I have to kill you now, you know that. Unless you're willing to become a rouge too that is. I can't let you go back to the organization, you must realize that…"

Chou stare up at me with a mix of feelings, confusion, relief, doubt, hurt, understanding, well, he's a mess right now. I give a dry laugh at the thought.

"You were never really good at hiding emotions from your eyes… Guess you still haven't grown out from that habit…"

"Pa…" He says quietly, his resolve wavering. I glance down at my hand, the grey is spreading up my arm, I better get to a safe place before the curse takes over completely. I lift up my hidden knife so Chou can see it, putting on a blank face as I talk to him.

"You have to choose now. Go with me on the way of rouge, or die by my blade?"

Chou stares at my blade, his mind going through many possibilities and thoughts but his eyes gets determined and he meets my gaze. Blue meets yellow and I can see his answer in his eyes even before he says it and my eyes soften in response.

"You are the person who saved me from death and loneliness. You've made me strong and I've learned so many things from you. You've protected me countless times, now it's my turn to protect you. I'll go with you, let me walk the rouge path beside you."

I get off him, retracting my hidden knife and giving him my hand to help him up. He gratefully accepts it and once we're both standing up, him being taller than me, silent thanks pass between us. Chou's eyes soften as he once again gets to experience the silent messages we've been able to make, a twitch of a smile reach my lips and I move towards my sword which is still impaled into the dead assassin. I rip it out before I turn towards Chou with a serious glare, Chou too have collected his weapons.

"I'm sorry that I left you, Chou. Call me Heng Shi now, my alias is Heng Ru Shi since I became rouge. I've been going to this school for a long time, keeping a low profile. Although, there's a woman here who's too interested in me so you can never mention anything related to me, understand?"

"Yes. I got your back Pa-I mean Heng Shi."

I smirk in amusement at his slip-up; he still wants to call me his pa, huh? Not dad, not father, not papa, but just a simple 'Pa'. It's strange, now that our bodies are almost at the same age with him being the older one. I look at my hand which has turned grey, it's spreading faster, I better get to safety.

"Come on Chou." I tell him before I break into a sprint towards the exit, Chou following me soon after. I easily navigate through the corridors towards the exit, but what I didn't count on was to meet one from the council on the way out and I stop in my tracks.

Hong Hua, the secretary… Damn, why did I have to meet someone now?

Hua notice me out of the corner of her eye before I can slip into the shadows so I start to walk forward, her gaze meeting mine as I approach. Her eyes flicker to Chou behind me and a flash of interest goes through her eyes. Though she nods in greeting.

"Heng Ru Shi. Have you already finished with locking the doors and windows in your area?"

I scowl in annoyance and glare at her, I forgot about those stupid doors. I casually put my hands in my pockets to hide my grey skin as I answer her bitterly.

"No, I haven't. Why should I when you seem to have the time right now? You're on your way towards the council room after all."

Hong Pushes up her glasses as she stare back at me. "Because it was your area to lock up, you should get your job done before you leave."

My scrawl gets deeper and I stop in front of her, looking up into her eyes defiantly. "Well, I'm leaving now because there's a huge mess of assassin bodies lying in my area so it gets kind of hard to walk around on the floor. Besides, I have to clear out the rest of the trash outside; it's only me they want."

I then step around her to leave with Chou trailing behind me. Hong calls after me but I keep on walking.

"The one with you is an old friend of yours I suppose. But what are you going to do after?"

I lift up my good hand in goodbye and call to her before I get to disappear around the corner.

"It has been horrible to work with you!"

When I get out of sight from Hong, I break into a sprint again. It's not soon after that pain starts to course through my body. I let out a silent scream, falling to the ground while clutching my heart in pain.

"Heng Shi!" Chou exclaims in worry, getting down on his knees to help me up. I shove him away and stand up by myself, clutching at my heart in pain. It will soon bleed; I must get to a place where no one will see me.

I continue to run even though pain shoots up my legs for every step I take, Chou, showing his caring personality towards me, notice this and tell me to stop running.

"No, I have to get to a place where no one will see me."

"But you're in pain! What exactly is happening to you?"

I force out a dry laugh and I glance up at him through the corner of my eye.

"So you led them towards the gun even without knowing what it would do to the victim?" Chou gets a guilty look in his eyes and I pass on a silent message that it isn't his fault, he nods in understanding. I look forward again as I explain to his what the substance does to me.

"Well, you know that it's made to make me immobile, right? But that's only a big, fat, lie. That stuff in the gun is a toxic for those like me. It makes our curse stronger and spreads much sooner than it should. First, our skin gets grey because our skin cells are aging faster; it slowly makes us immobile and makes pulses of enormous pain course through our body. After grey comes black, now that's the worst. The black part just around my heart bleeds heavily, almost like a hole has opened there and the only way to close it is to burn it closed. This curse sucks out our energy, but we won't turn into dust in the end because our skin is completely solid. I believe that the black part is some kind of hardened skin, a stone-like material."

"Stone?! So you're slowly turning into stone because of that curse?" I glare at him for saying it so loudly and I turn a right so we can run down the stairs which will lead to the huge corridor with the exit.

"Not exactly, just hardened cells. I don't know how that works, but I don't want to figure it out either. The only thing I know is that if the black covers me completely, I'll die. The gray makes me unable to move and the black will harden my body, if my insides stays unharmed from both grey and black cells, I think I can survive. Although, I'll have to live as a stone forever."

"I won't let that happen. Not after I've found you alive." I smirk slightly at his determination and I flinch as another pain attack goes through me, making me stumble. Chou catches me before I hit the ground and we continue to run.

"You know, P-Heng Shi…" I glance at him in interest, but Chou avoids my gaze and stares forward.

"What is it?" I ask with slight annoyance. My reply seems to have an opposite effect than what I thought, because he starts to smile.

"You've changed, Heng Shi… I don't really know what that's changed, but you seem more… open. And you don't seem as angry and bitter as you did back then. You've met people, who you've accepted, haven't you?"

I frown slightly at his conclusion, looking ahead as well and pushing the pain aside so I can think clearly. I guess he's right… I have been less annoyed and angry lately; I think it started about a month ago… The last mission? Maybe… And I have accepted people, like Prince and Garel. I have let Garel in on my secrets and I trained Prince similar to how I trained Chou. I hate Jing but I just can't bring myself to kill her, I guess that's something.

"Yes… Yes I have…"

I can feel Chou's stare but now it's my turn to not meet it. He knows that I rarely confess something so I think it's because I opened up myself to him slightly that he's surprised. Damn kid… Because I'm so happy to meet him again, I've forgotten to be bitter…

I slam against the door, trying to open it but it's locked. It isn't locked by the normal lock because that's open. It must be something else that's holding them put. Another lock which keeps the door shut through the floor. But I don't see any of those kinds of locks here.

"Jing…" My eyes narrow in anger as I realize who must be behind this, only Jing has total control of the school aside of the teachers. There's technology everywhere, of course there would be a second lock on the front entrance. Damn that persistent woman!

Another shock of pain courses through my body and this time I let out a small exclamation of pain, it's started to bleed. Chou sees this and takes me into his arms bridal style, ignoring my silent protest. He spots a huge window quite far up and he backs up quickly with the window in his line of sight. I look up and meet his eyes, giving him a silent nod and touching my necklace. Chou nod in return and with that he starts to run towards the wall at a high speed. I focus on my time energy, drawing a little energy from Chou so I can help him in the way I can. As he's running up the wall, I form time energy under his feet to act like magnets for his shoes on the wall. Chou tense up in surprise but continue running. Once he reaches the window, he breaks through with his shoulder first, holding his face down to protect it from harm.

He lands heavily on the ground, causing a second huge wave of pain course through me and making me scream a little louder this time. Chou looks around the school ground as if searching for something and once he finds it, he starts running in that direction. Luckily, it isn't the school gate. The hidden way the assassins took to get inside must be that way.

"Chou! Heng Shi!" Someone calls after us. But Chou doesn't stop but rather runs even faster, this makes the voice grow frustrated.

"Come on! I'm not going to kill him! You know that wasn't my mission anyway!"

Chou decides to slow down slightly so the voice can catch up to us and once they're running side by side with Chou, I can see who they are. It's Quin, the new student. So she was a spy sent to watch over me and give layout on the school ground, huh? I knew she was after something.

Quin glance down at me with a smirk on her lips, a playful look in her eyes.

"Man, Heng Shi, you look horrible. What happened to make you bleed so much?"

I glare at her, flinching because of the pain in my body and clutch the area where I'm bleeding harder.

"Fuck off. I knew you were after something. A spy, huh?"

Quin looks forward with a grim look and jump over something, but I don't pay attention to what it was, my mind's too hazy from the pain and blood loss.

"You can say that. But not only was I supposed to give out information on the school grounds and give out information on you, I was also supposed to gain your trust."

I want to raise an eyebrow at that, but the pain won't let me so I settle with a snort.

"My trust?" Quin nods.

"Yeah, your trust. I was supposed to lead you to an ambush later so we could capture you and use you for our organization by force. Although, as I got to know you during those three days, I managed to look slightly past that façade of yours. What I saw was someone who would refuse to listen to orders and stop at nothing to escape. Not only that, but you're starting to lose yourself. If I would have forced you into that ambush, you wouldn't be you anymore."

I laugh shortly at the irony, coughing because it brought pain to my chest. My vision is getting woozy; I'm losing too much blood.

"Pretty observant… But losing myself? I've already done that. It was a long time ago. When they died, I lost myself."

Quin looks down at me questionably but they keep on running. We've already gotten out from the school grounds, huh? I never noticed. Damn, I need to seal that bleeding. I try to twitch my fingers, but they don't respond. Fuck, the grey part has already reached my spine? This isn't good…

"Stop… I need to seal the hole." I tell them fiercely; even though I can't move my body I can still talk. I don't know why, but I don't really care.

Chou nods and he stops by a tree to set me down, he looks at the blood covering my school uniform in concern. Quin jumps up on the tree to be on look-out while Chou tends to me. Good, I would have told her to do it if she didn't take the initiative. Chou carefully takes off my school uniform with me emitting grunts in pain when he jumbles my body. He gets more careful when he notices my hidden weapons underneath my jacket. It isn't once he sees my bare chest that he asks me what's going on.

"Just shut up and give me a knife."

Chou picks up one of the knifes from my jacket and hold it up for me to take but I simply stare at it blankly, not being able to even move my head from it's leaning position against the tree trunk.

"Are you stupid? I said that this would immobilize me, didn't I?"

Chou nods, a flustered look in eyes as he realize what it meant and he picks up my hand and take it to the knife. On second thought, maybe they have something to heat it up with other than me using my energy; the grey will spread faster if I use my powers. With that thought in mind, I look at Chou seriously.

"On second thought, do you have anything to heathen up the knife?"

Chou nod and digs in his pocket, taking out a lighter. He then lights it and bring the flame to the tip of my knife, I curse out loud. This will take forever; I have to use my time energy. I take a little help from the flame to heat up the blade and Chou lean back slightly in shock when he sees the grey spreading faster across my body as well as the black. He voices this out loud but I tell him to shut up and continue heating it up. Once the knife is completely heated up, smoke emitting from the blade, I tell him to put it against the hole. Chou is hesitant to do it though.

"Oh, for crying out loud. What the hell made you care about my well-being so damn much? I'm still me, now stop being a pussy and do as I say."

After hearing the fierce tone in my voice, he finally presses the broad side of the blade against my hole. I scream in pain even though I try to force it down, but my body doesn't twitch since I can't move it anyway. Panting because of my body practically burning, I tell him with grunts to turn the blade in a circle. He does as I say and I scream more silently this time, Quin soon comes down to see what's happening just when the hole is completely closed. But the grey and black is still spreading because of the poison which got inside of me. It will soon cover me completely.

"What's happening?" Quin ask us wearily, looking at me with something similar to concern. I grin weakly as I open an eye to look up at her.

"I'm dying, that's what's happening."

"No! I won't let that happen! Not again!" Chou exclaims, hitting the ground while looking fiercely at me. Ah, so seeing me die is what made him care more about me, ey? I guess we assassins can still make those caring bonds.

I look at Chou seriously, narrowing my eyes at him so I can see his face more clearly. My vision is still hazy from blood loss.

"My fate to die was sealed when that fucking needle hit me back at the school. I was unable to move just after we jumped out from that window I think, there's not much time left. And that Hong and the locked door made me lose valuable time too, those bastards always wanting to know too much and annoying me at the worst of mome-… " I trail off, thinking about what I just said and what it was which caused an uneasy feeling to grow inside me.

It has something to do with those bastards in the council…Jing. Because of the closed door? No, it's something else… They could track me somehow? How could they track me?

"_I can speak to you through your brooch, now come to my office, we are starting our mission."_

My eyes widen as I realize what it is. That brooch which holds the school crest, Jing can see where they are; hear what they're saying as well as talking to them. I found it out on the last mission when I locked myself up on the rooftop after class while I was waiting for the mission to start.

"Fuck! That bitch can hear us! She's heard the whole thing! Destroy that fucking brooch, we need to move now!"

Quin destroys the brooch while Chou picks me up again. Quin takes my jacket and my knives with her and the two of them start running again, I tell them to turn a right which will lead them to an abandoned assassin guild I attacked some years ago.

This situation is not good… No matter how much I don't want to say it, I'm glad that I have two allies right now…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Heng Shi: …

Hi! Was the chapter any good? Now he's left the school and won't meet Jing anymore directly. I've lost contact with Vampie-chan, so I had to take Jing out of the picture… I hope Vampie's okay… Although, I've planned to do this from the beginning. Now it's going to focus on real life for about two chapters and then we'll go back to the game again. Do you guys remember Chou? From the last chapter? Now father and son are united again!

Heng Shi: … What. The. Hell was that?!

-Jumps a little at his sudden shout and look at him nervously- Ehm… What was what?

Heng Shi: -Glares at me darkly- You know fully well what I mean! What the hell was all that?!

Ehm… Me giving you a reason to get away from Jing…?

Heng Shi: That is one good part, but why the hell did you make them use that fucking toxin against me!? And what the hell is the deal with that girl!? And now that bitch knows too much! Just what the hell were you thinking!? Didn't you say that you won't include Jing in the story anymore?! Now she's going to be even more fucking curious!

Well, I'm sorry, but that's how the Brooch works! And you had to explain to Chou what was going on, or else Chou would get too worried! You know how Chou is with you! And besides, they had to clear up your mess, It's possible that she hasn't listened to you talking and just closed off the main gate so she could deal with you later! –shakily takes a few steps back, holding Bubblan close to my chest to give me a sense of protection-

Heng Shi: She better not have listened, or I will fucking kill you in your sleep! I should have taken over this story to begin with, you expose way too much!

And I have to explain more, my readers needs to know you better!

Heng Shi: The hell they are! I can be a mysterious character which no one knows anything about but they just like him for his cool and awesome personality!

-Blinks rapidly in surprise- Are you talking about Xellos?

Heng Shi: -Snort- No, you get to know about Xellos near the end of the anime, right? I'm saying that I should be the first of those characters! Someone with a mysterious background and powers!

-Tilts head to the side with a question mark over my head- You want to be Sebastian?

Heng Shi: No, damn it! Just don't reveal my true name!

But if I don't reveal things about you, you wouldn't be you anymore Heng Shi.

Heng Shi: That doesn't make any sense at all, just don't reveal anything else, simple as that!

-Talks to Bubblan- I think he's confusing himself, don't you think so?

Heng Shi: You're hopeless!

Anyway, bye, bye people! I hope I can see you soon! I have to update '12 again' before I update this again though, so please bear with me, alright? Bubblan says bye too!


	27. Cursed to stone

Alright! Another chapter! Yay! I left at a little cliff hanger so I hope this chapter will suffice. Will I let Heng Shi rest in peace-?

Heng Shi: Yes, please do that.

-Or will he survive his curse? You'll find out in this chapter! I have planned this from the start so I'm glad that I've gone through the middle part of my plans and gone on to the planned part. It's really hard to write the things that's coming between your plan points, really frustrating and takes up a lot of time and effort.

Heng Shi: … Have you really planned this to the end…?

Yes, yes I have.

Heng Shi: How will it end then? With me destroying the world?

If I tell you that, it wouldn't be fun to see your reaction when the story does come to an end. Also, I've planned to rewrite the beginning of the story a little, but I doubt that will ever happen… My mind is so jumbled up with other fanfic ideas that I probably will jump onto a new fanfic the moment I finish this one…

Heng Shi: -sigh- Yeah, I've heard about your ideas already. One piece fanfics all of them except the two Naruto fanfics, one with a stupid girl who lost her memories and one who dies as an old hag and comes back as a 7-year old kid with communication problems. I get it.

H-hey! Don't tell them about my ideas, dummy! –Hits Heng Shi over the head-

Heng Shi: -glares at me- I might consider it if you gave me a vacation.

You lost your chance on a vacation when you ran away, so there! I will release you at some point, but not yet! –Turns towards readers- Anyways, enjoy the story everyone! Hope it reach your expectations!

(There might be some grammar faults but I will correct them when I can.)

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Being carried by Chou makes me feel weak and pathetic, but there isn't anything I can do about that. I am weak right now… The weakest I've ever been in my whole long life… Never have the curse gotten this bad, now I'm really _dying_ for the first time. I've gotten life-threatening cuts and shots but I've always been able to use my energy to keep me alive. But now I can't use my energy, it's the energy that's the reason that I'm dying. Or more specifically; the thing that allows me to control my energy…

When we got to the abandoned house, we were greeted by the sight of homeless people living there already. Their dirty features staring at the three of us, who have bloody clothes of murders. Of course, I told Chou bluntly to kill them and he obeyed, leaving three alive at my command. I'm now leaning against the wall, my hand placed on the second woman with the help of Chou so I can drain her energy. The first man is already aged like a wrinkly old man.

"There's a cure." I tell them bluntly, staring seriously at Quin who's in front of me. Chou immediately leans forward, eager to save me. Seriously, he shouldn't care this much. I taught him that myself, only care about yourself.

"Really!? What is it!? Where is it!?"

I narrow my eyes at Quin, since I can't move my head to look at Chou. The grey has spread across my whole skin, making me look like a talking stone with eyes and a mouth. Even my hair has turned grey. The black is slowly crawling up my neck and right arm, at a slower pace now that I'm draining time energy. But I don't have much time left. Chou moves my hand to the last one, him screaming in panic in another language, Russian, that he doesn't want to die or be touched by the monster. But it's quickly silenced when my hand is placed on his head and I drain his energy.

"It's in Xian Hong. I know that the leader of your organisation is Gim. You can use your connection to him to get inside. Chou, I've shown you the research room. Draw a map for her so she can go and get it. It's in a green vital, the darkest green, close to black. If you're unsure which to take, take all of them. My skin will be rock solid so you have to pour the substance in my mouth. I'll still be alive since I can protect my organs with energy, but it won't hold more than two days at most. I hope you're smart enough to come up with an excuse to enter Xian Hong."

"We can't trust her! Let me go instead, you can't be sure that she'll be back with the cure!" Chou shouts out in desperation. Before Quin can inquire, I scold him harshly.

"You fool! Don't let your emotions get the better of your judgement! Do you seriously believe that they think that you're alive? If you had gotten back to Xian Hong about an hour ago, it would have been believable, but it's too late now. They think you're dead! Quin can pass it off as looking for me when I escaped and get there in the morning to report. And this is a great test, isn't it?" I finish off with a mocking grin. "You said you didn't want to see me die; well now you've got my sinful life on your shoulders. Will you save the monster or will you leave it to die? Whatever you choose is fine with me. If you save me, I will owe you a favor, and my favors are very useful to have. But it would also mean that you would be responsible for setting me loose upon the world; for giving me free reins to fulfill my reason to live. Who knows; I might become an unstoppable monster who destroys humanity. The choice is yours. Chou, draw a map and be quick about it. She has to leave as quickly as possible."

Chou lets go of my hand and wander off to get some paper and a pen. I don't know what Chou's expression looks like after my scolding, but Quin has a lot of conflicting emotion in her eyes. Behind that expression of nothingness, a lot of doubt, sadness and confusion are mingling together. My grin grows larger as I see this.

"What's wrong? Can't decide now that you get my trust just enough to get my cure? Is it because what I just said, that I might destroy humanity? You out of everyone should know that I'm already long gone; I have no other reason to exist than to kill. Which assassin has a reason to live at all?" Quin's eyes narrow in a fake expression while I can see fear growing in her eyes. I change my grin to a mocking smirk.

"You getting scared now? Doubting yourself and your own reason to live? Understandable, you haven't let go of your emotions completely yet like I have. It takes a while and a special experience to let them go completely. I felt so much better when I did. Getting more scared? You don't want to become like me? You don't have to worry about that. You won't live long enough for it to happen to you after all."

Before Quin has the chance to ask me why I'm saying all this, a paper is roughly shoved in her face. She looks up as Chou and judging by his tone, he isn't pleased at all.

"Here, get the cure and be quick about it. You have two days until I hunt after you."

Quin nods, standing up from her seated position and walks off towards the door with confident strides. I can hear the door close shut and her soft footsteps fading away before Chou sits down in front of me at the same place Quin sat on. He has one arm placed on his knee while he's looking seriously into my eyes.

"The black is spreading…" He says seriously, hurt in his eyes plainly visible. I give him one of my rare smiles; I won't be able to do it soon anyways.

"I know. This is the first time I'm dying for real."

"You mean… You didn't die, even from that shot…?" Chou asks me in disbelief, his eyes widening. I grin at his expression; it's so fun to surprise people.

"Yeah, I was never in any danger. I've lived for centuries and never truly died. My energy has constantly kept me alive. At first, I couldn't control it to protect me from death. But when it started… relelling against ne, I ha' to learn to control it nyselh."

My mouth isn't working anymore. It won't form proper words now. It has reached my chin I presume.

"No! Wait! What do you mean by centuries!? Answer me!"

Since I can't answer him, I keep my mouth open and close my eyes, letting the stone cover my face completely. I can feel the curse trying to solidify my insides but I quickly use the energy I got from the homeless to keep my lungs, heart and veins to my brain intact. It works; the stone can't get through my small barrier. But it won't be long until it breaks through. I wonder if Quin will let me die or save me. Either way, I'll experience hell.

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Darkness… Who knew that darkness could be this boring? I can't hear, can't see, can't feel, can't smell, can't taste. The only thing I can do is fighting to keep the barrier around my most important organs alive so I can breathe. I also have to keep the rest of my blood system alive so I won't get a thrombosis, which makes it even harder to stay alive. I don't think I'll be able to keep the barrier up for two days. Even though I don't have any sense of time as I only have darkness, I'm pretty sure it's only been a few hours and the protection is already fading.

It's getting harder to breathe with the curse pressing down on my barrier. It sounds like I'm at the edge of hyperventilating even though I'm not scared. I thought that I would be scared of dying after staying alive for this long but I actually feel at peace as it gets harder to stay alive. I have thought at least once or twice to just let the barrier go and let the curse crush me, but I've always pushed that small thought away. I will live as long as I can, if I'm saved I can fulfil my goal. If I die, no real harm done, I should at least live as long as I can.

Although, it would be good to kill some more, kill real people instead of fake monsters in second life. Speaking of the game, I wonder how Garel is. Maybe during my absence, he's killed a lot of monsters and gathered the loot at our cave. I might have gained another level when I log in again. I haven't checked my stats or level at all during the whole time I've played the game. I probably should do that if I get to log in again. And it has been a long time since I and Garel have rampaged on a huge mob of high-level monsters. It would be fun to do that.

And I wouldn't mind tormenting Prince some more either. And I would want to kill that bastard Gim for everything he's done. And Jing, ugh, don't even get me started on how much I want to kill her. I will have to arrange a meeting with her so we can have a little chat about her interferince... And she better not spread the things she heard, if she heard anything from the brooch that is. I should kill her for all the problem she has caused... I would like to see how good she is, it looks like she could be on par with me but I don't know for sure. I could try it in second life if I get to log in, that way I don't have to worry about getting noticed.

I wonder how Chou would react if I died for real, how would he react? Probably in a sweet, horrified way, he would be heartbroken at getting his hope awakened and then it crushing down just a few hours later. If I get to see that face at all, I would be thrilled. I like seeing hurt, horror or fear in others expressions. It's something I've come to love after the many centuries I've been alive. He might be family but that doesn't change a thing.

Hmm… I wonder how long it has been. Has it been two days already? No, I don't think so, my protection might be flickering but it still has a long way to go before it lets up. Has Quin decided to let me die? Oh well, if that's how it is then so be it. I've lived long enough anyway.

But then, I can feel… something trickling down my throat. The reaction is immediate; the substance is strengthening my time energy and pushes away the pressure on my insides. I help the substance with my time energy and soon my insides are completely free from being solid the substance, which I now realise is the cure, continues to free my body from the curse and I slowly start to feel and smell things. It takes longer to be able to hear but the sounds comes so suddenly that I wish I wasn't able to hear again. The sounds aren't loud but that doesn't change the fact that it's shocking to be able to hear after hearing nothing for at least a day.

"I told you, I will tell you what happened when he wakes up." Huh, so Quin decided to save me after all? What a bad choice it is on her part.

"But why won't you tell me your reason for doing this? It can't be just because you want him to owe you a favour." Good, Chou isn't worried anymore. I would have beaten him up if he did.

"Why can't that be my only reason?"

"Because even though having favours are useful, it's not in the assassin code anymore to save anyone." I cut in in their conversation. I open my eyes with a small smirk at seeing their surprised faces. "Isn't that right, Chou? Quin?"

Chou is the one who recovers first, a relieved look in his eyes even though his expression is blank. "That's right. You must have had another reason for betraying them and saving Heng Shi."

Quin looks off to the side, her eyes debating if she should tell the truth or not. I decide to guess the answer by the look in her eyes. I can now move, the grey area crawling away from my spine. I crack my neck, shifting my position into a more comfortable one before I look straight into Quin's eyes, making sure that my eyes have that kind of stare which will make the one looking into the eyes unable to look away.

"You hate your organisation, don't you? You hate that it's controlled by another leader. That's why you want to go against them, isn't it? I believe Gim started acting weird about 18 years ago, that's when he came to your organisation isn't it? Because you were a secret gang who fought fights for others thanks to your excellent combat skills, Gim sought out you to be his puppets in the dark. You were a kid back then and watched your 'family' become more skilled and torn away from their emotions. You hate Gim because of this. And to go against Gim, you keep me alive and away from him. Am I right?"

Quin narrows her eyes, nodding slowly to indicate that my guess is right. I grin at the revelation and stand up to stretch my legs. The other two stand up as well, Chou towering over me while Quin is pretty much the same height as me.

"So, Quin, what happened?" I ask her while I start to stretch, all the grey having disappeared thanks to the cure. Quin cross her arms over her chest and starts her story.

"I started off with going back to the school to get the weapon. Thankfully no one stopped me, but I'm sure they saw me through the cameras positioned throughout the school. After I got the weapon, I met Gim at the assigned spot and gave the report that everyone was killed and that you escaped. I told him that I searched for you the whole night but couldn't find you. When I told him that I had the weapon, he told me to give it to him. But after a debate of trust, I managed to fool him into letting me inside Xian Hong.

"Gim told me that it would be suspicious if I came inside with him so he led me to a secret passage he built and told me where the research facility was. Although, he gave me the wrong directions so I took help from Chou's map to get to the research facility. Once I reached the empty wall, I didn't know what to do until I saw the small drawing of a crack in the wall and an arrow next to the crack and the numbers 4855. When I pressed my hand next to the crack, a code plate appeared and I hit the correct numbers.

"When I got inside, the door closed and I looked around for the cure. I found it in one of the cupboards, being the only dark green substance there. I put it in my bag and used the same passage Gim got me in through to get out. I never put back the weapon in the research room. I got back here and poured the cure into your open mouth while ignoring Chou's pestering on answering his questions. It's only been a day since I left and I believe Gim will notice my betrayal in the morning when he doesn't hear that an intruder has been caught. He was planning on betraying me after all."

I nod at her story, a pleased smile on my face. That fool is so naïve, I can't believe that I looked up to him when I was a child in this cycle. Even though I have the mentality of an adult, you can never really escape from getting role models until you're a grown up. A child is seeking for someone to please after all.

"Good, he is a naïve fool. I should have killed him when I left. He doesn't deserve the spot for the main elder."

"Then why didn't you?" I look at Chou blankly, silently asking him to elaborate. "Why didn't you kill him when you had the chance? What held you back?"

I glare at him sharply. I won't tell him that I previously saw Gim as my idol and that it could be a part of the reason why I didn't kill him. I'm not completely sure why myself. I just know that I left and decided to never come back.

"Shut up." I tell him, shoving him aside so I can get to the door. "Why should I tell you?"

I can hear Quin and Chou follow me outside and I start walking in the direction of my apartment. I also drain some plant energy from the trees so the curse won't act up again anytime soon. Quin knows which direction I'm walking in and she steps up beside me to ask me about it.

"Why are we going to your apartment? Shouldn't we escape from the country? They have found you, we have to leave."

I smirk at her, she thinks just like anyone should. But she doesn't know the things I can do. What better way to hide from them than do the unexpected? Staying in the same town once could be understandable, but twice? No one would ever think that I would be so 'stupid' as to stay in the same town when they've found me. But I'm going to stay for now. I'm not leaving my parents anytime soon.

"We're going to pack. If we don't we'll starve for waiting in four days."

"Waiting? What are we waiting for?" Chou asks me, a curious glint in his eyes when I look up at him. My smirk grows larger and I look ahead, seeing the edge of the small forest already.

"You'll see. Just follow my lead."

When we part from the shadows of leaves, we're greeted by the early morning sun. I close my eyes, looking as if I enjoy the sun while in reality I search for time energy of assassins. I don't find anyone yet so I calmly walk on the road towards the centre of the city. My apartment is on the other side of the city so we have to go through it. But there's no reason to hurry.

"Heng Shi, why are we _walking_?" Quin asks me, not really believing that I'm walking so calmly down the street. We meet other people from time to time but the city isn't completely awake quite yet.

"We have nothing to worry about. No assassin is close to us just yet. And they need to see us for my plan to work. Besides, the city is starting to awaken; do you want to be seen running for your life for no apparent reason? It would either unnerve them or think that we're crazy. Just relax, it will be fine."

Chou accepts my plan quietly and he relaxes as well. Although Quin doesn't relax that easily, she's almost shouting while she scolds me like a child.

"Relax?! How can we relax? They will soon notice that I never got caught, then they'll connect the dots that I'm working with you and then they'll chase after us with everything they've got! It seems like you do not fully understand the situation here, we are rouge assassins now. We'll be hunted to the ends of the earth. And now that we're stepping inside enemy territory, you want us to relax?! Just because you have some kind of plan you believe will work!?"

I glare at her coldly, killing intent rolling off me. She's so annoying, screeching like that. Even though she saved me, I will kill her if she talks to me in that way.

"What gave you the right to speak to me in that way? You're screaming like a banshee and it makes my ears hurt. If you don't like the way my plan is unfolding, you can leave and fend for yourself. I'm sure you don't have any problem with that. You chose to save me; you chose to keep me away from Gim. And now you can choose if you want to go through with my plan. I know how they work; I know how they think so I know that this will work. Now, you can either walk away or you could be quiet and do as I say. I don't care if you've saved me; I will kill you if you speak in that tone towards me again."

Quin frowns but looks ahead, not saying anything. I can feel the admiration and joy roll off Chou. He's always had it hard to hide his emotions, I should really fix that. A little torture every time he shows emotion could do it.

I smirk darkly at the thought of him screaming in pain. That would feel so wonderful! Although right now I have to focus on going through my little plan. They'll never realise that I could be staying in the same city.

Walking in silence, we reach the centre of the city when I feel assassins' close by. I hide a smirk behind a serious face-mask and walk a little faster. The other two quickly do the same. I don't need to tell them that assassins are following us, they already know. But they can't attack now that we're around other people. The city has woken up now and is slowly getting busier by the minute. We'll act fast so that they won't have the opportunity to attack us.

We reach the facility I'm living in, me saying good morning to a few regulars at the café who I've seen before. The number of assassins following us has increased to about 20 people now. When we reach my apartment, I lock up the door and the three of us step inside. My eyes narrow as I get a feeling over my property.

Nothing is out of place yet, but I can feel a disturbance in my protection by a window. It isn't open but someone has stepped in here. But I don't sense anyone in the apartment except for us. I'm not sure how many who've been in here. I just hope they haven't done anything which will cause permanent damage.

After a short moment of stopping in front of the door, I walk towards the living room. I have two backpacks under my couch and two more under my bed. I pull out the two dark brown back packs from the couch, a little irritated when I see a little dust fly around as I pull them out. When this is over, I will definitely clean the apartment.

I toss the backpacks to Quin and Chou and tell them from over my shoulder while I walk towards my room.

"Pack everything that's eatable. I have a cooking kit underneath the sink. We're going to be without food for a few days. Make sure to pack as many bottles of water as possible. It's going to be warm where we're going."

I know that there are assassins up on the roof who could be listening in on our conversation so I purposefully draw in the protection I have on the windows so they can hear me as I give them this order. Both of them do as I say while I step inside my room to pack all my clothes in one of the backpacks while I put all my personal stuff in the second bag. After a small debate with myself, I leave my second life console on top of my desk, silently hoping that they don't confiscate it when they'll search through my room. Everything that's hidden is something worth searching through but you never take something electronic that's in plain sight and doesn't have any special information value.

After just a minute, I've packed everything in my room and exit to get to the bathroom to pack the rest of my things. Chou and Quin are already done in packing food and water and are waiting for me. I toss my clothes backpack to Chou and enter the bathroom to pack down the rest. When that's done, I step outside and drain the last of my protection on the windows and door, holding out my hand for show and making the time energy visible to the naked eye. It's glowing in a pale blue, slightly shifting towards purple. Both a blessing and a curse, it's colours reflect the time energy so well.

When that's done, I ignore the other two's stare and march out the door, waiting for them to step outside as well. I close the door, locking it and walk up the stairs towards the roof. While we go up, I tell them the most important part of my plan.

"We're going to run to the train station. That will make them think that we have a specific destination and train to catch. They'll chase after us, maybe attack. Don't stop. I know we'll arrive when a train is just about to leave. We'll take that train. Don't question me, just run."

I can hear Chou grunt in agreement but I don't hear anything from Quin. When I look back at her, she looks doubtful. I smirk a little at seeing her face. She still doubts if it's a good thing to come with me.

"Quin, either you're a rouge with me or you can be a rouge by yourself. It's that simple. Choose before we get to the train. You could continue go with the train if you don't want to come."

Quin nods, a steely look in her eyes. I turn around again, the door to the roof being just one staircase away.

"You better keep up or I'll leave you in the dust." I murmur to them before I open the door quickly, immediately running out towards the train station when it's open enough to slip out from. I hear the assassins noticing us and I hear that both Chou and Quin can match my speed for now.

Just like I thought, they're all chasing us and in the beginning when there were assassins positioned all over the building, they tried to attack us. I easily dodge all the attacks without getting so much as a scratch but Chou and Quin get a few scratches here and there from what I can hear. They can't feel the disturbance in the time energy before the projectile is launched so it's understandable they get hit from time to time.

After a few minutes of running, jumping and dodging weapons we reach the train station. Like always, it's packed to the brim with people. We easily run on the railing on the waiting line, ignoring angry shouts from other people. They sometimes try to grab me so I will fall down but I kick them away, not caring if I hit their nose up their brain or not. If they're in my way, I'll simply make them get away from me. I set my course towards the train with open doors, kicking away the security that tries to get in my way.

I reach the train just when the doors are about to close and I catch the doors with my hands and foot to hinder it from closing. Slowly, I bend up the doors. They have really powerful doors now a days, that way people would have to avoid the doors from trapping them and thus letting the train leave easier. It can't leave with open doors after all.

When I manage to open the doors enough to step inside, Chou and Quin catch up to me and the three of us stumble inside the train when they connect with my back. The doors close behind us, leaving the assassins standing outside with anger in their eyes. I grin at them, waving goodbye while the train starts to leave the platform. A lot of people are staring at us, probably because of our dramatic entrance. We're just lucky that this is one of those 'not so popular' trains so we could even enter in the first place. Although, I think their shock is mostly because I could actually open the doors again when they were about to close.

Checking that nothing has been damaged in my personal backpack, I wave to Chou and Quin to follow me as I walk towards the front of the train. They don't ask any questions but just follow me just like I told them to do. Just like on the train station, I shove past or kick anyone who's in the way for me and it takes us two stations to reach the very front of the train. When we do, I turn around to address my two companions.

"This is where it will get tricky. Now, Quin. Decide, do you want to come with me or do you want to stay?"

"I'll come with you." She tells me seriously, I nod at her declaration and brings out my hand for them to take.

"Good, now take hold of my hand. Don't let go until I tell you to. I'll take some of your energy if this will work."

Chou nods and takes my hand without hesitation and Quin does the same albeit a little slower. When they're both holding on to my hand, I make time stop for us. The two of them look around in confusion as they see everything freeze. Something akin to realisation flashes in their eyes.

"This is…" Quin starts, but she never finishes her sentence. "Time has… stopped?" Chou finishes for her.

"Yes." They both look at me, Chou being the only one who looks down. "This is my reward to you for saving my life. I'll show you the power and curse I possess. I won't owe you anything after this since I'm saving your lives as well. Don't let go."

I then proceed to rewind time using the time energy I have inside me, taking some from my companions to help me. They watch in fascination as they see everything rewind, the two stations we've passed coming back. They didn't see our forms going backwards but I suppose they'll see it later. When we reach the main station, I'm panting heavily by rewinding time for three people. Stopping time is easy but rewinding it is another story. Chou holds up a hand in worry but one glare from my stops him from worrying.

While time is still stopped, I hold out my other hand, palm upwards and suck in the time energy that's been scattered around us through our time traveling. It isn't much but it's enough to take the second step in my plan. Sucking in the time energy, I turn towards the open doors and start time again. I run out from the doors, running behind a corner so I have a view of the platform. Quin and Chou quickly follow my example.

After the people on the platform have filled in the train and the doors are about to close, we can see another me keep the doors at bay. Quin and Chou flinch slightly, surprised at seeing another me. Copies of my companions appear as well, crashing into my other selves' back. The assassins come after that. Just like we did, our copies go with the train. But when our copies pass me, I meet my own gaze and with a smirk my time energy which kept the illusions intact disperses into the air, making it seem like the three persons evaporated.

I turn my attention back to the assassins who are discussing things with the security guard. But they don't leave. I frown slightly in irritation. Such persistent bastards, they're searching the platform. I take a deep breath and motion for the other two to stay while I disappear into the shadows, going for the closest person and stabbing them to death, draining their time energy while I drag him to a dark corner. Soon, the dead body is decomposed as I've drained him completely empty of energy and I return to Quin and Chou, asking them for status.

"They're searching through the platform and have informed the security that we're wanted criminals so they're on guard too. They know that you might have rewound time to get back here and they don't take any chances."

I smirk slightly; they'll be so stunned and surprised when they don't find us. And not to mention Chou and Quin, they'll be the most surprised out of them all. I change my appearance, a dim light surrounding me as I do so. I have cast a time barrier over us so the assassins will see this place as something normal.

"They don't know me at all. Such fools, like I will let them catch me. You're fools as well, speaking as if we're in a tough situation. You have no idea what I can do to live for centuries."

When the light disappears, instead of a grown up 20-year old with white hair and yellow eyes is a 13-year old with brown hair and green eyes. I grin in satisfaction at their shocked reactions and I lightly clap Chou on the arm, changing his appearance to brown instead of blue eyes and black hair. I touch Quin and she gets green eyes and blonde hair. So instead of two brunettes with blue eyes are now one with black hair and brown eyes and one with blonde hair and green eyes. They're frozen in shock.

"I've survived for centuries, how do you expect me to have not gained any suspicion? Now let's go. We can still catch up to the stream of people without looking suspicious."

I change my clothes with my time energy, making them fit me better instead of just hanging loose and grab the two adult's hands and dragging them behind me. I put on an excited smile façade as I pull them behind me.

"Come on mom! Dad! Hurry up!" I shout at them as we pass a security guard. Chou is the first to recover from the shock of seeing the most powerful part of my power and chuckles at my fake enthusiasm to play along.

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming. No need to hurry, we have all day."

"But there's just so much to see!" I shout out, pulling on their hands harder. We pass by a pair of assassins who doesn't give us a second glance. "Come on, come on!"

"Yeah, yeah. We're coming." Quin tells me softly, and I smile brightly. We wave through the crowd, me acting like an excited child all the way out. Once we're out, we go into a dark alley and I immediately drop my act, turning towards my companions with a sly smirk.

"Impressive acting, you recovered pretty fast for seeing my age change." I change myself to my normal age after my statement.

"Anything is possible when you control time." Quin states emotionlessly while staring at me. Once I've changed completely, my hair and eyes being its normal colour since I don't like them being in another colour than my own, I crack my neck in satisfaction. I then touch them and drain away the time energy that alters their appearance. After that's done, I take my clothes backpack from Chou and start changing my clothes a little so it'll look different, putting a cap on to hide my white hair.

"That's true, but it's still impressive that you got over the shock so fast. You're not the first ones who get to know about what I can do with my power. Of course, they're already dead. Some swore secrecy and lived their full life and some I had to kill because they wouldn't have shut up." I sling my backpack over my shoulder, looking at them with half-lidded eyes. "So which ones are you? Talkers or keepers?"

"Keeper." Chou answers immediately, him changing his clothing the best way he can by turning it inside out, the white fabric underneath being visible instead of the black fabric. "Since when haven't I been loyal to you when you took me in?"

I snort in amusement, smirking at Chou as I remember the time when he was a useless brat. "I can think of many times when you were a little brat."

Chou frowns, grumbling slightly as I won over his argument. I look over at Quin, who is also changing her clothes so it looks different from what she wore a few minutes ago. She doesn't meet my gaze at first, still thinking over her decision. When she meets my eyes, she tells me that she is a keeper as well. I smirk, tossing them each a pair of sunglasses so they can hide their blue eyes. After they've put the glasses on, we slide into the crowd of people walking towards the buses. I drain small snippets of energy from everyone I touch to not raise suspicion by someone suddenly collapsing to death.

We take the bus which goes towards the outskirts of town, I being the one who pays for us. By now, I've drained enough time energy so I'll be able to last at least two weeks. After a five-minute ride with the bus we step off at the outskirts of the central district. Now there are fewer large skyscrapers. I go between two houses, taking a shortcut to where my father is buried. After ten minutes of walking we reach the dumpster we're going to hide in for the next days. Chou and Quin are a little wary that we're entering a dumpster but they follow me anyway.

With a small smile, I enter the dumpster, my gaze on the largest stack of junk. When we get closer, I raise a hand in greeting.

"Hey father, we're going to crash here for a while."

In response to my words, a small can tumbles down from the stack. That means yes. I nod in thanks, going towards the broken couch at the foot of the pile. I grip the sides of the middle back pillow and lift it upwards, a small resistance being there because of the hatch I've attached to it. Behind the pillow and the hatch is a hole large enough to crawl through. It's going in a straight line into the darkness of the dumpster pile. The hole is much larger than it needs to be for me to fit in but I guess it's just enough for Chou to get inside.

I nod my head towards the hole, lifting up the hatch for my companions for them to climb inside. Chou walks forward and starts crawling through the hole on all fours. Quin follows him after a short moment of hesitation. When I've entered the hole, the hatch close behind me and leaving the path in complete darkness. The silence is broken only by our shuffling through the path and it doesn't take long until Chou has reached the end of the path, crashing into one of the furniture I've placed inside the hideout since he can't see.

"Ow! Well, that's the end of the path. Now what?"

Quin do almost the same as Chou but hits him instead. I smirk in amusement, standing up since I know when the path really ends. I reach behind me and press a button I've installed in the wall. A small light flickers to light, hanging from the middle of the room. It's small, but it's enough to make us able to see.

The small hideout I've built is meant for two people but three doesn't make that much of a difference. The roof is shaped like a round cupola, the highest point being about 6'6 feet tall where the lamp is hanging from. I can stand perfectly fine, the shortest part of the roof being 5'7 feet. Chou will have to bend down a little to fit in the shortest part of my hideout.

Chou and Quin stand up as well, looking over my little hideout. It's as large as a small one-room apartment with the room being round. To the right of the opening are two cupboards that serve as the kitchen part. To the left is a leather chair and next to that a bed, both of them covered with white sheets to keep away the dust. The thing Chou bumped into is the low table that's in the middle of the room. Behind the table are a leather couch and a curtain that's hiding a small john toilet in the room. The couch is also covered with a white sheet. Between the 'kitchen' and 'bathroom' is a chest holding pillows to sit and sleep on. Over the chest is a wooden window which can be opened. The window leads to the 'shit and food waste' part of the dumpster so it's only opened when the toilet has to be emptied.

I spread out my arms to the room, smirking at Chou and Quin who are hiding their surprise fairly well.

"Welcome to my little hideout. We're going to stay here for the next five days then we'll go back to my apartment. During these five days, the assassins will look for us in this town and when they realise that we aren't here, they'll think we've escaped to another country and they will deem it impossible to track us. We'll have a few years of peace if my plan goes right."

Quin's eyes widen a little as she finally realise what my real plan is and she looks at me in slight admiration that I thought this up right on the spot.

"I see, so we hide just underneath their nose when they're searching everywhere else than here."

"Great plan, pa." Chou says, the admiration in his eyes shining brightly. I frown at his slip-up, crossing my arms over my chest.

"What did I say about calling me pa, Chou? In this cycle I'm not your father."

Both of us ignore Quin's surprised stare and Chou rubs the back of his head sheepishly but his face remaining blank.

"Ah, sorry Heng Shi. It just slipped. I can't help it; it's just so good to know that you're alive."

I snort loudly, dumping my two backpacks on the table before I walk over to the chest. I take out one yellow dust cloth and a simple brown cloth. I toss them one each, the brown to Quin and the yellow to Chou.

"Put the backpacks on the table, we're going to clean this place first. Quin, you fix up things behind the curtain. Chou, you fix up the kitchen part, the chest and table. I'll fix up the bed, couch and the leather chair." I also take out three surgeon masks and hand them one each. They smell strongly of perfume but it's needed. "Put these on, I'll open the window so the dust can fly out."

I then close the passage by placing a concrete block over it and when I open the window, the smell is horrible. The perfume from the surgeon mask helps but not much when it stinks outside. Without blinking, I get to work, shoving past Quin and Chou who are desperately putting on their masks.

"Get to work." I tell them and start taking off the sheets placed over the couch, bed and leather chair. I hear them follow my command without complaining. Maybe a groan from Chou but no verbal complain.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

After a few minutes of cleaning, we're done and I close the window, making Chou breathe silently in relief. I remove my mask, putting it in the chest again and letting Chou and Quin do the same to theirs and the cloth they used before I close the chest and state what's been on my mind since we started cleaning.

"Someone has found this place a long time ago so they might be back. The dust on the sheet was disturbed, probably only a week worth of dust layered on the disrupted place. They might come back."

I walk over to the armchair, my arms on both armrests and one foot placed on my knee much like how a king would do. Both of my companions regard me with impassive faces.

"If they come back, we'll question them and then kill them."

"How can you be so sure that there was more than one who found this place?" Quin asks me, raising an eyebrow to show that she clearly doesn't believe me. I snort at her doubt; I don't have a reason to lie right now.

"Because I saw the dust being disrupted on more places than one, idiot. Who exactly do you take me for? Obviously not the White snake with the doubt you show over my abilities. What will make me convince you that I really am what I say I am? Should I kill you to prove my point?"

When Quin is about to speak, I hear some shuffling far away from us and I hold up a hand to stop her from talking, leaning forward so I can listen more closely. There are voices… and shuffling… People are coming here.

I give them the sign language that someone is coming and to turn the lights off. Chou turns off the lights while Quin presses herself against a wall. I remove the concrete block from the opening and stand beside the block, waiting for the victims to come inside. We can soon hear the voices talking to each other.

"This tunnel is pretty long… Are you sure you found a 'cool place' in this junk?"

"Yeah, I'm sure! I saw it with my own eyes! Ling was with me!"

"Yeah! Someone built this a long time ago and it hasn't been used in a while. The tunnel wouldn't be in a junkyard if it didn't lead anywhere. The room is round and almost looks like a room you use for evacuation; it's perfect for us three!"

So they're three teenage boys who just happened to find my place in the junkyard? Too bad for them, they're going to live a short life. Kids shouldn't stick their nose where it doesn't belong. But we'll make it look like an accident, a lot of kids die while climbing on junk. A simple slip could kill you. These kids are too curious for their own good.

"I don't know about you guys, but I have a bad feeling about this…"

"Oh, come on. The place is harmless, what could happen?" Oh, you don't know how wrong you are kid.

They've now stepped inside the base, the first one bumping his head on the table like Chou did.

"Ow! We're here guys! Ling, do you remember where the light button was?"

The second boy steps out from the tunnel, standing up and putting his hands on the wall behind him to search for the light button. The third and last boy also bumps into the table but simply sit there, not helping the second boy in finding the light button.

"It was on the wall next to the tunnel I think… I think it was on this side…"

"Great, we'll just chill out by the table while you find it then."

"Lazy asses…" The boy searching for the button mutters loudly, still searching. I can feel that the 'leader' is about to shout something, so I distract them with the sound of the concrete block sliding over the tunnel. I feel the tension rise in the room when the boys hear the sound and it's quiet in the room for a few seconds. The 'searcher' is the one who speaks up first.

"Hey… Guys… D-did you just hear that…?"

"Y-yeah, I did. Sounded like something slid across the floor…" The 'leader' answers, the fear plainly visible in his voice. The third boy crawls forward to where the tunnel is.

"That's it! I've already had enough of this place. Let's get out of-" He tells them, but stops short when he collides with something. Something that previously wasn't in front of the tunnel before.

"H-hey, guys! D-did you do this! Is this some kind of sick prank you're pulling on me!? There's a huge concrete block in the way!"

"W-what? No, man, we wouldn't joke about this kind of stuff! Can't you move it?" The 'leader' asks him, crawling forward to help with the concrete block. I pull back so they won't touch me, a grin spreading on my face. Time to have a little fun…

I snicker at their fear, making the three of them freeze up, looking around wildly. I snicker again, the sound echoing in the small room.

"W-what the hell?! Who're you?!" The 'searcher' shouts out, moving a little closer to his 'buddies'. I snicker again and start to mock them with a voice which has made many other shiver.

"Poor children… Scared and lonely… Don't know what's going on… But I know what's happening, yes I do… You stuck your nose where it doesn't belong… This… This is my domain…" I slink behind the boys, standing on top of the concrete block with the boys in front of me in a half circle. I lean forward so I'm whispering in one of their ears.

"You shouldn't be here…" The boy I whispered to scream out, lashing out his fist towards me but I duck, making it seem like he hit thin air. I stand up again, gathering energy in my eyes and mouth so their colours are showing with a faint blue glow around them. The boys step back when they can see my eyes.

"This isn't a 'cool place'… This is my place… My domain… And you have found it… How did you find it?" I ask them, ending my question with a snicker. I can feel them shivering. Aah, scaring people is so much fun.

"W-w-w-w-we w-we… E-e-explor-ring." The 'searcher' stutter out, stepping closer to the other boys. The other two does the same as the 'searcher' although nodding instead of speaking up. I narrow my eyes at them mockingly.

"'Exploring'? So you explore junk yards now a days? I made this here so no one could find it… Yet you found it… I hope you haven't told anyone else about this place…"

The boys quickly shake their heads, not trusting their voice anymore. I nod my head, pleased and move my hand towards the light switch.

"Good… Wouldn't want anyone to find out that this place exists. It would cause some problems for me…" I tell them, pressing the light switch on so I don't have to use my energy anymore to see and glow in the dark. The boys jump at the sudden light but blink in shock when they see me.

I'm a little bit shorter than they are; they're probably in their late teens to be that tall. And now that they see me, they don't find me as scary anymore, even gaining confidence at seeing my appearance.

"Pfft-hahahahaha! A kid!? He got us good guys, he got us good!" The leader laughs out, slapping one of his 'buddies' backs. The weary one, who got slapped on the back, stumbles a little but is still staring at my grinning face, mumbling a 'yeah'. My grin is still in place while the leader laughs his heart out and my eyes take on the more maniac glint when the leader looks at me again.

"Oh? And who said that I was joking? I'm not a kid, boy. I'm much older than you could ever wish to be." I flip out my hidden knife holding up for them to see. "Foolish mortal, I did build this place. I did notice that you've been here. And since you found my place, you're going to die here. No one can find out, people are after my head after all." I tell them, easily stepping down the concrete block and walking towards them. The boys start to back up and I give a signal for Chou and Quin to take one each, they do as I tell them and leave the 'leader' to me.

I rush at him, getting my face really close to his, giving him a moment to get terrified before I grab his neck and slam him down on the table behind him. I can hear the other two shiver as they're held by Chou and Quin. I get the knife close to his face, looming over him with a pleasant expression, the malice still visible in my eyes.

"You seriously can't expect that a secret hideout suddenly pop up for you to use? This room has always and will always be mine. An assassin must have their ways to escape, am I right?"

The boy beneath me widens his eyes in shock, trembling harder than before. My grin comes back full-force at his fear.

"A-assassin…?" The boy asks meekly, flinching when I bring the blade a little closer to his eye.

"That's right, an assassin. This is an assassin's hideout you just stumbled on. We'll erase you like it seemed natural, of course. Don't want to stir up unnecessary trouble. A lot of kids die while climbing on junk yards, a lot more than you think. Some bodies just aren't found." I bring my knife up to the middle of his forehead, the tip touching the skin and making a few droplets of blood leak out. My grin widens even more, snickering at how he's petrified with fear.

"Let's begin the fun part, shall we?"

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Aaaand, done!

Heng Shi: Weird end for a story…

Not the story, dummy. The chapter! I really like how you look as a child, so young and innocent. And gosh, you're just so cute when you're smirking with that chubby face of yours!

Heng Shi: Why did you make me alter mine and their appearance anyway? Couldn't we just have hid there and fooled them in another way?

No! I wanted to see you as a kid! –Does a wiggly dance at the cuteness he had-

Heng Shi: -Shakes his head while looking at me weirdly- Why do you think I'm cute? There's nothing cute about me.

Yes there is! And my opinion won't change! I'm sure Fishy thinks the same, gosh, why can't you always be a child?

Heng Shi: Because it's annoying and frustrating to be a child.

Ok, ok. Well, the chapter is done and posted so now I'm going off to a convention! Summer vacation has started and I will try to write as much as I can. Can't promise anything though… Have a fun summer everyone! See you soon~!


	28. So he IS a human?

What's this? Is it an update? Holy fudge! It is! I finally got fudging inspiration for this story people! –Dances around happily while throwing flowers everywhere to show my happiness-

Heng Shi: -Brushes away some flower pedals from his shoulder, walking over to lie on the comfy leather couch I have in the 'studio'- I have quite liked my months of vacation actually.

-Stops throwing flowers and slowly turn towards Heng Shi who is still lazing around in the couch- … When did you get free?

Heng Shi: -Shrugs- During these months you were away. Nothing I couldn't do really, just took me some time.

-Starts to nervously back away- Are… Are you going to take over the story…?

Heng Shi: -Stares at me for a long time, thinking over his decision- Nah. –Turns around on the couch with his back turned towards me- You are kind of useful. Even though I don't like that you're revealing stuff about me, you will give me a satisfying end at least. Sitting chained down in that chair was really uncomfortable and as long as I don't do anything, you won't put me back there, will you?

-Slowly backs away a little further, my back pressing against the wall- I don't trust you… You are up to something… You would never say that I would be useful! You would rather take over the whole story completely and fudge everything up! And how do you know about the ending anyway!?

Heng Shi: I won't do anything as long as you don't do something that I absolutely hate. And I found out from that. -Lazily points over to my right from where he's lying-

-Looks over in that direction and is just able to see a flash of white before it runs out the door- Gah! So that one revealed it to you!? Damn you! Is this how you repay me with using your idea!? Ugh… No, I'll just move on to the story. Something special will happen in this chapter, it will change the course of this story slightly. Just the tiniest bit.

Heng Shi: -Turns around to look at me- Don't tell me you're going to use _that_ idea you've had for a while…

That's right! It will be so much fun!

Heng Shi: … Whatever, this one is fine. Do that. –Waves his hand towards me in a dismissive motion while turning around again-

You've really changed through the course of this story… I also should change the beginning slightly, there are too many 'evil grins' there than necessary. But anyway, here's a chapter you guys! A little longer than usual. Enjoy~!

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I sigh tiredly, lying on the bed and staring up at the metal ceiling. Chou and Quin are in similar, bored positions as I am in the chair and couch. Absolutely nothing is entertaining anymore. We've played cards for two days now and third day was spent just lazing around, but torturing those boys and dumping their bodies on the first day was fun. I heard when people found their bodies, hilarious. Where I stabbed them, I impaled them with sharp poles; their cuts could have come from anything on their way down so I put their blood on a few things here and there in their 'path down' so to say. Of course, I did this in the night. I can't be seen after all.

I haven't told Chou and Quin anything new about my powers even though they've asked me many times. Why should they know more about it anyway? They know enough as repayment for helping me survive. And why should they know? It's not like I'm at an advantage if they know about me, I would rather be at a disadvantage.

I groan once again, feeling my blood boil and scream under my skin. I'm going crazy in here! No killing, no cleaning left to do (I've already cleaned the room two times), no cooking, no homework, no killing, no computer, no training and no one to fucking kill! I didn't know that it would be this fucking annoying to not kill anyone for a while. Thinking about the blood coating my fingers and being superior to the other being only seems to make it worse. I don't physically hurt over this feeling, but it's really annoying to get all these urges when I shouldn't kill these two humans who are with me in the room.

I can hear their fucking heartbeats, and the sound is so annoying that I just want to drive a knife into those things and release the beautiful red blood that will come out. But these two are right now my subordinates. I won't be able to go outside for a while, but they will be able to. I need them alive at the moment; I can't kill them no matter how satisfying that would be. I would first see them writhe and scream in pain as I slowly cut them up, first in the face and then on the arms, just to coat them in the beautiful red of their blood. Then, I would carefully cut up their insides and twist their organs so that they'll scream even more. And when that annoying heart is beating in an uneven, annoying rhythm, I would slowly squeeze the life out of that muscle.

"What's wrong? Heng Shi?"

I don't realise that I'm laughing until Chou asks me what's wrong. My laugh comes to an abrupt halt and my face goes into its emotionless state. I will not let my blood lust take control of me. I'm in control of the blood lust and let it come out in battle. I will not let it take control over me when it isn't needed. I cover my eyes with my right arm, feeling myself start to grin when I don't see anything. I can freely imagine the beautiful red patterns I can draw. Without my consent, I start snickering.

"Holy shit, he's losing it…" I hear Quin say, actually sounding terrified of me. It only makes me laugh again, turning so that I'm facing the wall as my whole body shakes in my laughter. I let a picture of my mom appear in my head, the smile on her face helping me in calming down my blood lust. I snicker a few more times before my laughter completely dies down.

"Don't think so lowly of me, Quin." I can hear her flinch when I address her. That's right, be afraid. You have every reason to be afraid of me. "I am the one controlling the blood lust. The blood lust will not have control over me."

I see a flash of red appear on my mother's face, as if she just killed someone, and I quickly sit up, a hand immediately finding its way to my forehead and laughter tries to burst out from me. That face became even more beautiful with the blood stains! I wonder how mother looked like when she killed, she must have been a goddess back then. Of course, during my first cycle I would only admire her skill but she would have looked so beautiful with someone else's blood coating her snow white hair. A small snicker gets released before I can push down the urge to kill at the moment. I drag down my hand over my face, looking up at a very pale Quin from between my bangs with my hand pulling down my lower eyelid ever so slightly. Quin scoots as far away from me as she can in the leather chair.

"But of course, it can still try…" I tell her, a huge grin slowly making its way over my face. As I continue to stare at the woman, I get those urges to just cut her up and hear her scream in pure torture. To feel the blood soak my skin and clothes, making me feel _alive_, giving me a _purpose_ for still existing. I am just about to fulfil that urge when I realise what I'm about to do and quickly turn away from Quin. I place both my hands on either side of my head, placing my elbows on my knees so I'm hunched down. I'm shaking in effort to keep the urge under control. And there's nothing here to distract me!

I flinch harshly when I feel a hand on my shoulder, suddenly _feeling_ the blood running through the limb and _hearing_ the owner's heartbeat so _clearly_. Without hesitating a moment, I shove the hand away, jumping to the other side of the room while I'm panting hard. Damn it! Just when I started to get control over it! If I stay here one more day, I really _will_ kill them.

"Don't come fucking near me." I tell Chou, the one who touched me, harshly, leaning against the counter for support while I cover my face with my left hand so I won't see the other persons in this room. "That heartbeat… That blood… If you don't want to die, don't come fucking near me again."

The silence after that is eerie and I slowly but surely push down my blood lust to a tolerable level where my blood only feels hot and not screaming at me to kill something. I rip out my backpack from underneath the table and starts to shove in the little food and water we haven't eaten already. It's in the middle of the fourth day, and we're supposed to leave in the evening, but I can't take this anymore. I _need_ to kill. I need to log in on second life, or kill a hobo, anything to get rid of this _boiling_!

"Pack up, we're leaving."

"But didn't you say-"

"Pack!" I interrupt Quin, glaring at her and almost letting go of my hold on my blood lust. In only a minute, we've covered the furniture with the white sheets again and are ready to go. I go out first, opening the trap door at the end and quickly scan around for any sign of enemies. No one's here. Quin and Chou step out from the pathway right behind me and I close the trap door, making it look like a couch again. We then make our way through the dumpster. I first lead us to the forest so I'll get to kill an animal, it will satisfy my blood lust for a day at least. So I kill a squirrel, painting a small smiley on a tree to satisfy me at the moment. Once that is done, we bound over towards the city.

We walk through town without any major problem I might have had to hold in my laughter when I imagine myself slaughtering everyone, but it's nothing we couldn't pass off as some joke. We finally reach my apartment building and I jump up the steps two at the time, not minding that it's hard to do for my short height. Now, I'll just rush inside and immediately go to second life and start raiding. I'll kill monsters and satisfy my lust for blood with no problem.

But when I step inside, my plan immediately changes as I see what a complete wreck my apartment is at the moment. Boxes turned upside down, sofa pillows all over the place, things tossed everywhere, doors knocked off the hinges and I don't doubt that the kitchen looks even worse.

"What the hell is this!?" I yell out angrily as I stomp into my apartment, looking inside the kitchen to see that it is indeed in a much worse state with food tossed everywhere and all cutleries tossed on the floor and some plates smashed. "What the hell were they hoping to find anyway!? Those fucking idiots! Why did they have to wreck my apartment?!"

I immediately move over to my room, intending to start cleaning it first. I turn around to point at the two assassins still standing in the hallway.

"Make yourself useful and start tossing away the spoiled food and broken plates!" I then step inside my room, quickly fixing the hinges with my time energy with the wave of my hand and then lock the door behind me. I turn towards my room, taking in the sights of all my books tossed everywhere and floorboards split open. I sigh tiredly as I start my task in cleaning everything up. This will be a long day…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

I don't stop cleaning until it's time for dinner, and even after that I continue to clean. I even clean the spots that look clean just to take away the invisible shoe stains the invaders have left behind. I walk back and forth through my whole apartment, broken things that we will toss away gathering in the hallway and I return to the hallway whenever I see something broken. All the while I am walking around my apartment cleaning, I force Quin and Chou to stay put on the sofa which was the first thing I cleaned. They were incompetent to clean the kitchen so it's just better if they stay out of my way.

My hair is swept back with a white bandana so it won't get in my way. And after cleaning up half of the kitchen, I decided to put on a dark blue apron as well so I won't dirty my clothes. I purposefully ignore all the shocked and bewildered stares I sense from Quin as I curse the invaders over and over as I clean my apartment spotless.

"They even had the nerve to use my shower while they raided my home!? What the hell is wrong with these gorillas, the hair is everywhere!" "Who the hell is the idiot who thought standing on my leather chair was a good idea!? It's full with grime!" "Gah! _Why_ would they need to put their _hands_ on my windows!? If I even meet this idiots, they will wish they never stepped a foot in my apartment!"

Yeah, it is something that people who don't know me would see as shocking that I would freely wear an apron and a bandana like a maid, cleaning my apartment while I complain on the people who messed up said apartment. I don't hold anything against her for being shocked over my antics, which is why I purposefully ignored her stares. Although Chou seems really content in sitting on the couch while he watch as I clean. Perhaps it's because my cleaning habit has been stuck with me my whole life no matter what happened to my mentality. One of the very, very, very few things I have been holding onto with my habits from my first cycle.

When the sun is starting to go down, the apartment is _finally_ clean. With a satisfied huff and a smirk on my face, I look around my apartment. It's like the raiders weren't even here if you don't count the many things that are missing that are broken. I put away the cleaning utensils in the closet in the hall, calling out to Quin and Chou that they can get off the couch now. They do so and walk over to me in the hallway. Before Quin gets to say anything, I hold up my hand to stop her.

"You two are going to take this-" I point over to the pile of trash and broken things. "-to the dumpster. It's still not safe for me to go outside and you'll blend in much better in the crown. Tomorrow, we'll get things that can hide our identity. When you get back, don't try to bother me too much. I'm still having a hard time keeping my blood lust under control. I still have more things to do."

I then brush past them and walk over to my room to access my computer. I have stunned Quin to silence up until I close the door behind me when I've entered my room.

"What the-! Is he really the white snake!? Is he really one of the best assassins there is!?"

I can hear Chou chuckle at her distressed and shocked voice and rustling of broken porcelain following soon after. "Yeah, everyone seems to forget that he's still a human no matter how many people he kills. I'm just glad he has one of those quirks left… Let's go, he doesn't like people meddling with his business too much."

I lose interest in the conversation at that point, stepping away from the door and towards my computer. I start it and sit down in my black computer chair, absently glancing over to the innocent looking second life console that was left intact. I quickly shake my head, focusing on the glowing screen from my computer. I need to focus on this now; I can't play second life now. So once the computer is started, I log in on my e-mail I made when I became rouge and proceed to read the few mails I've received during my absence. Some advertising, some emails from school about my absence and some emails I know are from assassins that will immediately show them my location once I open them. So I stay away from those who are that type of email.

Once I've read the important emails, those from school, I proceed to write the school a reply. I tell them about how I had to go through a sudden transfer to Amerika and how I'm sorry that I couldn't contact them about it until now. Those sickly polite words almost make me frown but I keep a straight face as I write. When I am done with my email, I re-read it one more time to make sure that there is a hidden message within it that states that 'I've moved because I had to and that I won't come back' is pretty clear if you look hard enough. I then go over to the default page of the computer and write the 'password' I need to write to call on father's protector of all information. After just a second after writing the password, the little thing appears on my screen with its violet eyes shining in the middle of the screen. I go over to the page with my mail, making the protector look at my message. I then tap in the command that he will protect the location of where the email was sent from but make sure that anyone can see it.

I then lean back in my chair as the order is being registered, the email being sent by my 'protector' when it realised my order after a few seconds. The little thing then melts into the background, its eyes 'closing' as it disappears into the data stream again with the information of my location being kept a secret. So when my little 'protector' disappears, I shut down the computer.

My eyes glance longingly towards the second life console but I quickly shake my head a second time, standing up from my chair as I take the few steps towards my drawer. I have to train, I haven't been able to make my full training program during those days in my hideout and I can already feel my muscles slacking. That is something I won't tolerate.

So once I've changed into a tank top and shorts, I move to my living room to do my normal routine. I pull out my 20 kg dumbbells from the closet in the hall and start training my shoulders by lifting my arms over my head one at a time, the other arm staying down until the arm higher up comes back down in shoulder height. I do that about 20 times before I set them down on the floor to do my squats before I go back to the dumbbells. So after 50 squats, I do another 20 raps of the dumbbells over my head.

The next time the dumbbells are put down, I drop down to the floor to work on my chest with a few push-ups. First 100 on both hands, then 50 on each hand and after that I do the 'plank' for about 5 minutes. After 50 more squats, I feel humiliated that I'm getting tired much quicker than I did before my four day 'break'. But after those squats, I lie down on my back to do my 400 sit ups. That's when Chou and Quin step inside the door again. I barely acknowledge them when they step inside; just grunting in a small greeting when I glance at them as I continue to do my sit-ups. My tank top has been discarded after my second round of squats because it became too annoying with it sticking to my body. I'm already out of shape and I hate it.

"Whoah…"

I can't help but smirk at Quin at her amazed sound as she eyes my body. She is human after all; it's only natural that she would be drawn towards my muscles, I don't blame her. But I don't let her silent comment affect my rhythm more than a second as I'm soon done with my 400 sit ups. I hear Chou step forward, easily walking past me and sit down on the couch. But I don't hear Quin's footsteps so I guess she's still standing by the door.

"Hey! Quin, come join me!" Chou calls from the couch as he starts the TV, some sort of TV show on. After his call, her footsteps hastily make their way towards us, passing me with slight hesitation before she too sits down on the couch. I decide to block them out completely at this point. Soon after she sits down, I'm done with my sit ups and I roll backwards, slowly standing up in a hand-stand with a small grunt in effort before I start my hand-stand push ups, 50 of them. Once they are done, I stand in a normal handstand to breathe for a while; I then slowly separate my legs, moving them down together with my upper body, making my legs go past my arms in an almost sitting position without touching the ground before I slowly bring myself in an upright handstand position. I only manage to do 6 of those before my arms and stomach can't handle anymore. I'm really out of shape; I used to manage at least 10.

I breathe a sigh of relief that my exercise is over, lying down on my back for 10 seconds and just breathing. I usually end up exhausted after my work outs, it isn't exactly easy even for me I tell you, but I'm more exhausted than usual. So when my 10 second break is over, I roll up to my feet with a quiet groan, wiping away the white bangs from my eyes. That's when I notice Quin looking at me instead of the TV and I can't help but smirk again. Now that I'm done with my exercise and just have to do my stretches, I allow myself to be distracted. So while I put my arm behind my head in the triceps stretch, I address her with an amused voice.

"Like what you see?"

Quin quickly looks up to my face and she frowns in embarrassment when she sees my smirk, a slight tint of red staining her cheeks before she quickly push down the emotion and looks away, emotionlessly looking at the TV.

"It certainly isn't a bad sight but don't get any ideas."

I scoff at her words but leave her be. If she doesn't want me, it's ok. I can get anyone when I feel like it, but not right now. My priority is to finish my stretch, take a shower and then play second life. If I don't, I will probably kill them in their sleep. I change arm once I've counted to 30 and I address Chou this time.

"You two will come to an agreement on who will take the first night watch. It would be for the best that we keep a look out even though they probably won't search through this city. Tomorrow, one of you will buy the things we need while the other one sleeps after their night shift. I still can't risk going outside."

"But why can't you take the first night shift?" Ah, Quin always asks such stupid questions. Why can't that woman think for herself instead of asking me about everything? I give her a blank stare, shifting into a chest stretch with my hands clasped behind my back and pushed backwards. Quin's gaze makes a quick glance down at my chest before she quickly looks up into my eyes again.

"Sure, if you want me to kill you during the night, I can take the first night shift. Think for yourself for once."

Quin goes back to looking at the TV, a new frown on her face at my obvious insult. Chou says that he'll take the first night shift and that settles it, so the rest of my stretches are spent in silence with only the TV offering any kind of sound. I then go off to my bathroom to take a shower, only spending 10 minutes in there before I walk over to my room in only a towel so I'll play some second life. Once again, I ignore Quin's stare. I wonder what Garel has done during the days I've been away.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

When I log in, I arrive at the dango shop close to Sun City where I was the last time I was in the game. I look down at my clothing, smirking in satisfaction when I see that my gloves and coat are still there and well. I've had to change T-shirt and pants sometimes, but the coat has been easy to clean off as well as the gloves. I don't bother to clean the rings I have so they're always a little stained with dried blood. I clench my hands and see that the spikes still work, that's good. Everything is as it was when I logged out.

"Wha-? Is that Sabre?"

"Yeah, it is! Waaah~, he's so handsome~!"

I sigh slightly when I hear those comments and I am just about to draw my sword and cut them up when a very familiar and pleased voice interrupts me.

"Welcome back."

I look up to the rooftop, seeing Garel lie there with his spikey, white tail swinging back and forth over the edge. I jump up and grab his tail, Garel pulling me up and setting me down in front of him on the rooftop. I stare out across the small village while I lean back against Garel's stomach.

"Thanks, there was a lot of trouble in the real world. They found me so I had to hide for a while."

"Must have been hard, should we go and kill a little before I show you the place where I've hidden our loot?"

I grin at Garel's suggestion, letting go on my hold of my blood lust as I think about killing monsters. So without another word, I jump over on Garel's back, making him grow bigger with my mana and then we're off after I've changed my broadsword into a pistol. We land in a forest in between the small village and Sun City and here there will be a lot of goblins. We land in a clearing and Garel shrink down to his normal size, which is now up to the middle of my chest. Soon, I won't have to use mana to fly on his back; he could just fly normally without going through any kind of growth.

I look around the clearing, getting frustrated that there aren't any monsters here to kill. But that quickly changes when Garel emits his challenging roar, making the monsters in the distance roar in reply and probably run towards us. I pull up my pistol from its holster, spinning it around in my hand while I transform it into a katana, positioning my body in a typical sword stance. Garel is facing in the other direction, he wants some kills as well, and so we'll take one side each. The forest is quiet, the calm before the storm.

The first small goblin emerges from the trees, its cutlass held high above its head to try and cut me. The second it comes in my range, it is cut apart in the middle with its red blood staining me and my clothes before it vanishes. My grin stretches across my whole face when I see all the red eyes shining in the darkness of the trees and bushes surrounding the clearing.

"It seems your challenging roar has levelled up, Garel." I comment lightly, keeping my guard up for when they'll jump on us.

Garel doesn't get the time to answer because all goblins jump towards us all at the same time with their many weapons prepared to cut through both of us. I quickly change the katana into a pistol, shooting three of them before I have to change it into the twin blades with chain and block two spears aiming at my abdomen, twisting them on the T-shaped blades so the spears are cut apart. I then use one of my spells, electric shock, at the closest golbin and the spark which paralyzes my enemies jump from goblin to goblin until most of them are frozen. I take the time when they are frozen to launch my only fire spell so far, fire slash and swipe with my right sword to scorch the goblins in front of me.

I glance back and see that Garel is just about to get hit in the side by a goblin with a spike club. I quickly get rid of it by throwing one of my swords in its throat. In return, Garel hits a goblin behind me with his tail. I change my weapon into the hammer, hitting multiply enemies in one swing and causing them to fly back. Garel does the same but with his tail and he flies up into the air. Ah, so he's going to launch a fire explosion.

I let the goblins get closer to me, using another paralyzing spell but this one being transferred through the ground instead through enemy to enemy. Once the goblins are paralyzed, I hear Garel release his fireball up in the air I have just enough time to put up my water shield before it impacts with the ground and cause a huge explosion. The explosion takes out the majority of the small fries, which are always the first ones to attack when it comes to goblins. Now, it's only the 'challenges' that are left. The middle size goblins and the leader goblins. If we're lucky, we might have called on the king goblin as well but it isn't that likely.

The rest of the gobbling charge towards us at the same time and I change my weapon into my broad sword, grinning since I'll _finally_ be able to fight more one-on-one and satisfy my lust for blood. If it's a huge group of small fries, I use more wide ranged techniques that will make my enemies immobilized and use as wide attacks as possible to take out as many as possible. It's now that the monster raiding becomes fun.

I clash swords with a middle-class gobbling, keeping my focus on it while Garel takes care of the small fries that wants to get in my way. With a big grin, I cut the gobbling apart in an upwards slash, making blood spray over me. The next gobbling quickly takes the first one's place but I dispatch this one much faster than the first. On my way towards the third one, I have to cut apart some weaklings to get to it and in the middle of the fight, a leader gobbling appears and manage to give me a small cut on my arm because I couldn't get away quite fast enough. It only makes me grin more. Let's release the little beast inside of me, shall we?

After that, it's a pure massacre when I release the limits I've been putting on myself up until now in this fight. There was a lot of loot afterwards, so much that it doesn't fit in mine and Garel's pouches but I have to carry some in my arms as well. And Garel has gathered even more loot while I was away. Perhaps I should buy myself something very fancy with the money I'll get from all this…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Well, that went well." I comment lightly as Garel and I walk away from the blacksmith shop in Sun City. Prior to coming here, we gathered up all our loot, put it all inside a huge sack I bought in the village we were close to and then I made Garel large enough to be able to carry it and me.

That's how we got to Sun City, our first stop was the normal item shop where we sold the majority of the food we got from the goblins, saving some for ourselves for when we get hungry. The next shop we visited was the accessories shop where we sold all the gems Garel has collected throughout these four days and the ruby we got from a goblin leader. But we kept the special gems which you can fuse with weapons. After that came the mages shop, also known as the brewing shop. That's where you can buy ingredients to potions if you're a brewer, like some mages decide to be. You can choose if you want one of those useless side-classes, I don't bother training up one. But yeah, there, we sold all the goblin bones and hairs as well as some dragon horns, some spider poison, bat wings, wyrm blood, that kind of stuff that Garel has collected. You get a really heavy sum for selling those things there. And of course, we sold all the weapons and armour we don't need at the blacksmith so with our selling spree done, Garel returns to his normal size since he doesn't have to carry a large sack anymore. We saved an egg and the few upgrading stones. We don't know what to do with the egg at the moment but we let it stay in Garel's left pouch for now.

"What should we buy? You deserve something good after all this. We need to spend the money on something after all."

I think about it for a while, wondering what I should buy. I have my gloves which increases my stamina, mana, health and defense. I also have my two red chains on my cloak that also increases defense. The rings I have increase the amount of health I steal when I attack, increase my speed, increases my intelligence and mana and a ring which increases my charisma, spirit, wisdom and luck. So I don't really want any more rings, it would be too much. And I have no idea how many points they increase my stats with either, they are growing accessories but I haven't checked on them in the stats window for a while now. And I shut down the system notice a long time ago so I don't know when they leveled up either.

Maybe I can get a necklace with high fire resistance, that way; I wouldn't have to put so much mana in making a water shield so I don't get hurt from Garel's fire. Perhaps some new spells, it could be useful. I majorly use lightning spells, a few water and only one fire spell. Maybe I should get some dark spells, just because they can torture and create curses for my enemies. It would be highly amusing to see them twist on the ground in pain. A new, larger pouch would also be good. I may have two pouches but they get full pretty fast with all the loot I'm collecting. I should ditch the red belt like I've ditched the chains I had on my pants. It's getting annoying. But the shoulder pads on my jacket are still very useful.

And the gem on my weapon, it only increases my strength by 2 so it's not really useful for me to keep it. I should ditch that stone and fuse my weapon with another stone that we got recently. One of them should have a better ability than increase my strength.

"Let's go to the item shop first and get larger pouches. Then we'll get some spells, maybe a fire resisting necklace and change the gem I have in my sword. It will cost a lot but we'll be able to afford it easily."

So about an hour later, I have a growing type fire necklace around my neck, three new spells with one of them being a fire spell and the other two dark spells, two new pouches and a sword which can't only steal life for the amount of damage I do but also gives me a kind of 'hardened skin' with the skin having its own health to protect me. Right now, the 'skin' only protects 20 damage but the blacksmith ensured me that the amount would increase the more I use the skin. The 'set back' for this gem is that NPC's will fear me more and sudden waves of killer intent will scare the players at random moments when I'm in town. But of course, this isn't a setback for me. I normally strike fear into the people's hearts either way so it doesn't matter.

So with my weapon upgraded with that gem, the players are now hesitant to call out to me or try to approach me. That's a first. But of course, it only lasts for a short while and soon my 'fans' go back to normal. Perhaps I should hatch that egg Garel got… Who knows; the pet might be useful.

Instead of going towards the exit of the town, I turn a right towards the pet store where I can hatch my new egg. Garel follows me without a word and soon understands what I want to do once we get to the pet store. I take out the egg from Garel's pouch, the dragon being too large to follow me inside because his shoulders are too broad, and enter the shop. The egg is pretty normal looking, an egg I've seen a few times when other players want to boast about the egg they've found.

It's a light blue, striped egg with a few stars here and there over the whole egg. The stars shifting between White and blue depending on if they are positioned on the white stripes or blue stripes. I put the egg on top of the counter, scrawling because she looks terrified of me and it will make her take longer time to hatch my egg. I don't want to waste any time.

"Hatch it." I tell her and with a squeaky 'yes', she quickly picks up the egg and brings it to the back of the shop. I lean against the counter, looking out the door where Garel is patiently waiting for me and watching the players walk by. I've really gotten attached to him, that dragon. I guess he has influenced me in getting a soft side and not only being treated like a great person in the social life… No, what am I thinking? I'm not getting soft! I have just… gotten a few more attachments then I should. Yeah, that's right; I've gotten attached to that dragon. He's just a fake partner anyway, he's not real. It's ok to be attached to him since he isn't real, I won't see him anymore when I stop playing. He's just a partner, just like Chou and Quin. He's useful and it would be better to let him live and serve me than letting him serve anyone else.

"H-h-here's your… New pet, sir…"

I turn around when I hear the NPC's voice and I can't help but stare at what she's brought out. No… That thing can't have hatched from the egg… I know that I've seen a few of them, but this is not what I thought would be hatched… How the hell can this thing help me fight!?

As I stare at the little pet, very little, the thing slowly floats up into the air after it has unfolded its wings. The wings are shaped like a dragonflies wings but a little more 'jagged' on their rounded shapes. It's glowing and… _sparkling_ blue. The little thing floats up to my face and I squint in irritation because of its bright light. It notices this and lowers its light, leaving a blue haired, pointy eared female in its wake. Its hair is tied up in two, large bun-like ponytails. It looks like 8 with her hair being thick enough to make two ball buns in her ponytails. Her fringes are braided on either side of her face and her eyes are pink and they're sparkling in a hyperactive way. I sneer when she starts circling around me, a wide smile on her face stretching to the two whisker-like red markings she has on her cheeks. And that pinging sound it emits is so annoying!

I grab onto the annoying thing, the fairy that the clerk have brought out, and glare at it. The pinging sound stops as the fairy stares back up at me, flinching away from my glare and shrinks a little to seem even smaller. I turn my glare towards the NPC, the woman squeaking a little when I look at her. I guess it's the 'side effect' to my stone, the NPCs didn't fear me if I didn't do anything to them. I wonder if the NPCs who know me also fear me now… I don't know.

"You've got to be kidding me. This can't have hatched from that egg."

"I-I'm sorry, but the fairy hatched from the egg you brought… It's a very popular pet amongst girls and thus we have quite many of them that you can get from any monster…"

I glare harder at the NPC, lightly throwing away the fairy from me so I can slam my fist against the counter without accidentally hurting the little thing. It wouldn't do good to hurt it if it can be changed.

"I have no use for such a thing. And do I look like a woman to you? Change it."

"I-I'm sorry sir… I-I can't do that." She says, holding up her hands while backing away from the counter as far away as possible. "W-we can't change a pet once it is hatched… If you had sold the egg before the hatching process it could have been arranged… Fairies are support type pets s-so she can still be useful to you."

I glance down at the fairy who's sitting on the counter a little further away since I threw her, she winces when our gazes meet. She's afraid of me, of course. But if that fairy is a support type, she might be useful depending on what it can do… I stare at her for a while longer, thinking about my decision. If she'll be useful as support, it might be good to keep her. If not, I'll just leave her in a forest somewhere.

"Hey! Garel!" I call out, looking towards the door. Garel sticks in his white head, his green S shaped horns almost hitting the door post because he turned so quickly. I lazily point over to the cowering fairy, who got even more scared when she saw my dragon. "She's a support. Think she'll be useful?" Garel looks over to the fairy with the same criticizing look in his eye as I had. After a while of just looking at the thing, Garel nods.

"Yes, I think so. She's a blue fairy so she'll mostly focus on giving us boosts in attack, magic and critical hits. She'll also be able to decrease the monsters ability once she levels up some more. And if I remember correctly, a blue fairy will gain protection spells, create illusions and even some water spells if it's in a high enough level."

"I see… So it will take a while until she's very useful to us. Alright, I'll let you handle her leveling while I am gone. We'll keep her for now." I look over towards the fairy with a wicked grin on my face as I imagine what I will do to her if she isn't useful. "But if she doesn't reach my expectations, we'll see what happens."

The fairy flinches again when she sees my grin and she emits a few, quiet pings to show her discomfort. I wave her over, the grin still on my face and very hesitantly, the fairy stands up and starts walking towards me with her wings lowered in nervousness. Or at least I think she's nervous.

"Hurry up." I tell her impatiently and the fairy quickly jump up in the air and fly towards me at a fast pace. I look closely at the blue haired fairy, said thing squirming to show that she's uncomfortable. What should I name her then? She might just be a temporary partner like Quin but she could also be an important one like Garel. I'll give her a simple name, but not 'blue', that's too unoriginal.

"Do you want to be named 'Lumen'?" I ask the fairy, making her fly backwards slightly with a shocked look on her face. I narrow my eyes at her, not liking that she's wasting time. "Answer; do you want the name 'Lumen'? It simply means 'Glow' in Latin."

Hesitantly the fairy nods with a small ping in confirmation to show that she wants the name, although she's still a little dazed for some reason. I bite my thumb hard to draw blood, not bothering to use the spikes on my gloves, and hold out the bleeding finger towards the fairy. When the fairy still hovers a few feet away from me, not coming closer to the bleeding finger, I get irritated.

"Well? Are you coming or not? If you touch my blood, you'll be known as 'Lumen' and serve me. If not, I'll just walk out from the store and leave you behind." With a flinch, the fairy snaps back to reality and flutters forward to put her small hands on my wound. With a 'ping' confirming her registration to me, I say her name out loud and her stats window appears in front of me. So far she can just heal, increase my attack and lower enemies attack. Having three abilities in level one isn't usual actually; I guess she's somewhat useful.

"You, NPC." I say, turning towards the NPC who's been standing behind the counter doing nothing during my interaction with the fairy. The woman jumps slightly and meets my gaze nervously.

"Y-yes?" I reach over the counter, grabbing onto the collar of the NPC's dress and pull her face closer to mine as I glare at her.

"Do your duties better. Tell exactly what the pet will be able to do the next time. If Garel hadn't told me what this fairy could do, both you and Lumen would have been killed by me with your head cut off. Or…" I start to grin evilly at the cowering NPC. "Maybe I should kill you for your incompetence. After all, you'll just get revived, won't you?"

Tears start to gather in the NPC's eyes and she starts to struggle from my grip on her collar, begging me to spare her. Her fear just makes me grin even more as I move my free hand to where my broadsword is positioned on my back. But a tugging on my hand stops me from reaching the weapon and I glance up to my hand in irritation. Lumen is the one who is tugging at me hand, small tears in her eyes as she looks at the panicking NPC. With a snort in irritation, I shake away Lumen and grab the handle of my sword, changing it into its pistol form and shoot the NPC dead at close range. I grin when some blood spatter on my face and lick away some of the red substance from my hand as I let go of the limp body. The body hits the floor behind the counter with a 'thump' and I don't doubt that I got a few negative points to fame there.

I transform the pistol back into the broad sword and turn away from the counter with the dead woman behind the counter and the wall behind it being splattered with blood. Acting as if nothing happened in the first place, I place the broad sword on the half sheath on my back, the strap at the top automatically wrapping around the top of the sword to keep it in place like always. When I don't hear the sparkly sound of Lumen's wings behind me, I call after her.

"Lumen! Let's go!"

That's when I hear the sparkly sound of her wings closer to me and she lightly lands on my shoulder. And the nerve of that little thing, she starts to tug on my hair while she pings at me in her language. So when I exit the pet shop with a fairy tugging at my hair, Garel simply stares at me in amusement before he stands up to walk in the direction to the exit of Sun City. I angrily grab onto the little fairy and pull her away from my hair, holding her in front of my face so I can look at her. In response, Lumen increases her glow to a painful amount but I squeeze her to force her to go back to the tolerable glow she had previously.

"What the hell is your problem? You actually care about me killing that woman?" Lumen is still struggling to breathe in my tight grip so I let it up slightly so she can respond to my question. She meekly nods while looking down at my hand. I snort at that, placing the fairy on top of Garel's head and wipe away the fairy dust that has gotten on my glove on his snout.

"We got a softie Garel. She'll be afraid for us for a while before she can get useful."

Garel sneezes out some red fire since the dust tickled his nose and he shakes his head until Lumen falls off his head and is forced to fly by herself. Garel then glares back at the little fairy that is flying slightly behind us in the same height as my shoulder.

"Yeah, this will be really annoying… Hey! Lumen!" Lumen flinches and bring her attention back to us after have watched some players walking by us. She flies a little closer to show that she's listening but looking a little nervous. "If you're not useful, we'll dump you somewhere to die. If you're useful, you'll stay. But if you stop either of us from killing, we won't hesitate to hurt you. Right now, you're an underling since we don't know exactly what you can do, your position can either go up or down depending on what you do. Just remember, we are killers, so get used to it."

Lumen glances between me and Garel a few times before she hesitantly nods with a few pings. It will take her a long time to get comfortable with us, I can tell. I look over to Garel, a small grin on my face as Lumen's attention shifts towards some women players who start talking about me when I walk by.

"Should we go and take a mission and then go to Prince's city? I want to see how my little… 'Student' is and make sure that he isn't slacking." Garel starts to grin as well as he realize what I'm getting at and we both turn a left towards the mission building with me hollering for Lumen to follow since she got too caught up in listening to the players around us.

First, do an A-ranked mission. We haven't done an A-rank since the first A-rank we took was a little too much of a challenge. We nearly died with all of those high-level monsters attacking us all at once when we tried to get to the treasure chest our mission implied us to get. That was about two months ago and the B-ranked missions are almost easy now. So after an A-ranked mission, we'll go and have some _fun_ with Prince and his squad.

I glance back to the new one in our little 'party', the little support class fairy who is looking all around her in wonder with an excited gleam in her eyes. She's too bright with how she is right now; we need to make her a little darker for her to fit our company. When I turn back to the road, I feel something tugging softly at my collar. I glance back towards a nervous looking Lumen who starts moving her mouth but only emits that pinging sound. I frown in irritation since I don't understand what she wants and I stop walking, making Garel stop beside me.

"What?"

Lumen starts pinging some more while pointing over to my left. When I look in that direction, I see that it's a clothing store. Does she want new clothes or something? But she's a fairy, nothing there will fit her. I look back towards Lumen blankly, still frowning.

"Nothing there will fit you, why even bother with trying to get me walk in there?"

The little fairy pings a little more, shaking her head. She flies over to the glass window for the store and excitedly points at something there. With a glance towards Garel, I get even more irritated at seeing his amused look when he meets my gaze. With a silent message of 'shut up', I decide to humor Lumen and walk towards the window after the excited fairy.

"That's Sabre, pure lightning." "What is he doing walking towards a women store?" "What a loser…"

I swiftly turn my sword into a gun and shoot in the direction I heard that last comment, feeling satisfied when I hear a sharp cry of pain. The girls squeal at my show of skill as I put my weapon back in its broad sword for on my back. Lumen looks a little more uncomfortable now that she saw that display.

"What is it?" Lumen quickly comes back to reality and points again at the thing she wants but looking much less enthusiastic than she did before. When I look into the window, I see that they are ribbon bands, one group of them being short and thin enough to fit fairies with a sign over the ribbons stating that it's specifically for fairies. I sigh heavily, putting a hand to my forehead as I realize what this means. Like any other female, she wants to go on a shopping spree… I glare down at the blue fairy, said pet flinching at my irritated gaze.

"No. If you prove to me that you are useful, I might let you buy something. But as it is now, there is no way in hell that I'm going in there."

With a sad gaze, Lumen looks back towards the small ribbons. But a new, determined light shines in her pink eyes when she looks back up to me. She flies up to my height, doing a small salute with the determined fire still burning in her eyes. Seriously…? She would fight this hard to just get some clothes…? If she's useful enough, I guess it's ok to buy something, but to become this determined for some clothes? Something is wrong with this one. Or are all girls like this? It wouldn't surprise me, females are crazy after all.

With a scoff, I lightly swat away Lumen from my face and turn around to walk towards the mission building again. I don't know if it was a good idea or not to get that fairy… She's the total opposite to me and Garel in so many ways.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And you got to see Heng Shi a little more as a normal person! Isn't that nice? –Claps hands happily-

Heng Shi: Well, I shouldn't kill what is useful to me. As a rogue, I need all the subordinates I can get, Quin and Chou fit those roles.

Yeah, but I'm not only pointing at that, but also about your new pet! Lumen is such a sweet heart, I can't wait until she becomes more comfortable with the two of you. And just wait until she'll be able to talk! It will take a while, but she'll be so cute!

Heng Shi: Where did the idea to give me another pet come from anyway?

-Points over towards a white bunny that's sitting on the floor in front of me where I'm sitting in a leather chair a little further away from Heng Shi's couch- I blame this plot bunny. There was a lot of debate if I should use its idea, but in the end it was accepted by the court. So now, I don't have to jump so much than I originally planned between the important things that will happen.

Heng Shi: Alright, alright. It's fine I guess.

Really, you have changed so much with your attitude towards me… You were such a bastard before.

Heng Shi: -Glares at me- I'm still a bastard, just more accepting to what's happening.

(He's in denial that he's getting softer because of all the human contact and interaction he has gone through. Also added with the fact that he can't simply kill everyone who annoys him. He's in pure denial.) –Thinking quietly so Heng Shi won't hear-

But ok, that's the chapter people! Since I have inspiration for 'Time assassin' now, I might release a chapter much earlier than I did this time! Maybe in a month! Although I doubt it with all these projects I've gotten since I have started in 12th grade… I don't want to graduate~! –Goes off to a little emo corner to mope about it-

Heng Shi: -Flings a rubber at my head to bring me out from my depressed state- Deal with it, everyone has to grow up. It just so happens that I've done so more times than you have.

Alright, alright… But yeah, I hope I'll update much sooner next time. See ya soon~'


	29. The little new fairy

Hello everyone! And merry Christmas! –throws around glistering snow while spinning around- Ok, Christmas is already over, but I made this chapter as a Christmas present you could say. I got an inspiration kick for this story during Christmas and I immediately started to write on it when I got the chance. I didn't manage to get it done yesterday, but now it's done. So happy holidays!

Heng Shi: I can't say that Christmas is happy; it hasn't for a long time.

It's just because you're grumpy and doesn't want to get any friends or family to celebrate with. Come on, Heng shi, lighten up! It's Christmas! If you're nice enough, I'll even give you a present!

Heng Shi: -sits up from where he was laying on the couch- Does it include deciding what happens in the story or to kill reviewers?

Ehm… No, it doesn't… -plays nervously with my Santa hat- I'm the one who decides the story and I won't let you kill any of my reviewers, they are amazing people.

Heng Shi: -Lies back down- Then I'm not interested.

Why would you deny a present? Everyone wants presents!

Heng Shi: Well, not me. So just leave me alone and I won't kill you.

-whispers so Heng Shi won't hear- I really, really, really like how Heng Shi have gotten nicer after having been forced to get away from his daily killing. He isn't as angry anymore. –talks in normal volume- You're one grouchy guy… Anyway, I hope you guys like the chapter! Merry Christmas everyone! Oh, and I have a small question to ask you guys later at the end of the chapter. Enjoy~!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"No! How many fucking times do I have to tell you!? Only four things! When will that go through your little skull!? Four things, damn it!"

My exclamation draws many curious stares to where I'm standing. I can hear a few girls giggle at my problem, which is a little, blue, flying fairy that is holding a huge pile of clothes in her arms. Well, a huge pile compared to her size at least. Said fairy 'pings' a few times, flying around me with a stubborn expression on her face. I try to grab her, but she flies out from my reach with a slight panicked look on her face. I glare at her murderously, a hand reaching back to grab my broad sword.

"Two hairbands and three sets of clothes. More than that and I will shoot you. You might have showed that you are useful, but I do not tolerate this kind of disobedience."

Lumen starts to panic slightly and she quickly flies over to the fairy section of the women clothing store with the pile of blue clothes held in her arms. With an irritated groan, I sit back down on the bench inside the clothing store, shifting so my broadsword is hanging freely off the back of the bench. I look to the right out the window, meeting the amused eyes of Garel who's sitting by the store.

'Don't say anything. She's annoying.' I tell him, to which he snorts out some red flames in amusement and grins.

'Are you already getting attached to her?'

'No. I will shoot her if she doesn't listen.'

'Just tell me when she's finished.'

Our silent conversation ends and I look out towards the direction Lumen flew in. And there comes the annoying little thing. I've been sitting in this store for maybe an hour after we finished our mission. Lumen went up quite many levels and she got a lot more support powers throughout our mission. And using those curse powers were a lot of fun. If I lick off my enemy's blood, they'll get a little damage but they'll feel a lot of pain. And the second one is very weak but I'll get better at it in time. The second spell is named 'singularity'; gather all the monsters in one spot. I only managed to gather two together at best but it will get better.

Lumen finally comes back with just a few clothes hanging over her arm. All of them blue, of course. As she flies closer, I see that the two ribbons she has picked out are blue and red. I stand up as she flies closer, walking over to the counter with a frown on my face. When the two of us reach the counter, I snatch the clothes she want from Lumen's hands and slam it on the counter. The NPC flinches when his eyes meet mine.

"I'll buy these things."

The clerk hastily counts how much the clothes cost and slide them back towards me.

"T-that would be 3 gold please."

I slam the money on the counter, taking the clothes and walking out from the store. When I don't hear Lumen follow me immediately, I yell at her to hurry it up. That's when I hear the fluttering of her wings follow me. She's too easily distracted. When I exit the store, I and Garel start walking in the direction towards the exit. A guy next to me starts to snicker, probably because I just exited a woman's clothing store. My response is to transform my weapon into a scythe and cut him in half as I walk by, making players around me scream in horror at my brutality. But of course, the females are crazy and get over their horror quite quickly and start squealing after me. Another wave of killer intent makes them quiet down for a few seconds before they start squealing again.

I sigh tiredly, glancing back to Lumen to see how she's taking it. She has completely gotten over my kill and is flying around and looking at everything with an excited smile on her face. I put her new clothes in my right pouch and look forward again.

She kind of reminds me of how Gwen was when she was young and alive; one of my friends from my, what was it…? Fourth cycle? Yeah, it was. She was also very energetic, cared about people and had too much curiosity for her own good. Gwen wasn't really as… hyper when it came to things she liked as Lumen is. And neither did she completely forget herself in the things she was looking at.

"Lumen! Gah! Stop tugging at my horns you annoying bug!"

Yeah, and Lumen also likes to get on Garel's nerves for some reason… Only spending two days on a mission and she has already accepted our killer personalities. Kind of fast if you ask me. She is really strange, that one…

I look at Garel and Lumen as Lumen is excited over everything new she sees and turns Garels head in the direction to the thing she just spotted. She's surprisingly strong to be able to turn his head. I growl in annoyance at her antics at the same time Garel does. The white dragon shakes his head roughly, making the little fairy spin around in the air, disorientated and dizzy because of the sudden movement. Lumen recovers kind of quickly though and goes off and 'scold' Garel with her pinging voice. When Garel ignores her, the little flies up to my face and starts to 'talk' to me. I swat her away, finding her an annoyance, and she soars through the air and into a nearby wall because of my swat. I suppose I used more force than intended because of my annoyance but I don't care. She deserves it.

Although, when I don't hear Lumen follow after us immediately, I stop in the middle of the road, Garel stopping with me. During our mission, the two of us have realized that it is necessary for us to call after her when she doesn't follow us, or else she'll lose us and be a sobbing, crying mess when she finds us again. That has happened twice and it's two times too many, so I won't let a situation like that happen again.

"Lumen!" Garel and I call out at the same time, earning a startled 'squeak/ping' for our trouble and the sound of Lumen's sparkly wings fluttering after us. I start walking again without looking back at the sparkly thing.

Now, we'll go to Prince's city. I wonder how they're doing with the defense and all that; I've heard that when you get a city you get nothing more but a castle. And I'll get to sleep in that very castle as if it's my holiday house, that deal with Prince will pay off well for me…

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Lumen…? What. Is. That." I demand angrily, glaring at the little fairy fluttering in front of my face. We are just about to enter a dungeon me and Garel have never seen before when I notice the… stupid thing Lumen is carrying in her arms. Said fairy flinch slightly at my harsh tone but relaxes when she senses that I won't kill her yet. She looks down at the small object in her hands in confusion before she looks up at my face again. She holds out the little object towards me with a wide grin on her face.

"Why would you pick up such a stupid thing?" Garel asks her, snorting out some red flames in irritation. Both of us are close to our breaking point on dealing with the fairy. I don't know what will happen to her if we kill her, but according to Garel the pet will revive in my pouch after a certain amount of time. Perhaps killing the little thing won't be such a bad idea…

Lumen glares at Garel, a pout on her face as she strokes the object in her hands softly. As if telling him that 'it's pretty and nice and it isn't stupid'. I put a hand on my forehead in annoyance.

"It's a pebble. Why would you bring a pebble?"

Lumen flinches again at my stare, looking away from me in shame. Heh, good, she doesn't like disappointing me. When did I gain that kind of respect though? I hold out my hand towards the fairy, demanding that she gives me that stupid rock. Lumen shares a 'sad goodbye' with her pebble before softly placing it in my hand. Without hesitating, I throw the rock over my shoulder and walk into the dungeon with Garel following straight behind me. I hear Lumen follow as well, but at a much slower pace. I take out a torch from my inventory, Garel lighting it on fire with a precise fireball.

As we walk further into the dungeon, I hear a loud 'boom' sound from behind us and the cave suddenly getting much darker in just a second. Lumen 'squeaks' in fear at the loud sound while I and Garel quickly turn around to face the threat. Although, there isn't a threat since the opening just closed behind us.

I stare at the dark path for a few seconds before turning around to continue on walking. There must be an exit somewhere if it was programmed to close when we entered. Garel seems to think similar like I do since he quickly follows me, but I can hear Lumen still making her 'ping' sounds in clear panic as her wings brings her back and forth.

"Can't we just leave her already?" Garel asks me with a frown. I growl slightly, clearly considering it when I hear Lumen catch up to us with those annoying 'ping's getting stronger as she comes closer.

"I'm seriously considering it, this is so annoying… But those support powers of hers are pretty useful, especially that 'Higher chance for Crit hit', both of us could dispose of those weaklings much faster so we could enjoy the real fight. Also that she'll gain control over water later on, then she could fight the weaklings instead of us spending time to take them down."

Garel growls, also coming to the conclusion that she is better off staying in our 'team' since she is useful to us. But that doesn't mean that dealing with her annoying sound makes the situation any better. Both of us already were close to killing her in our anger but with her being even more annoying, that urge becomes almost uncontrollable. Almost.

"You better shut up or I'll slice you in half." I tell the shivering fairy who just got a small portion of her hair cut off by the dagger I just sliced right in front her forehead. A thin line of blood drips down her face and she finally shuts up with a terrified expression on her face. I sigh in slight relief at the sudden silence that envelops us, walking forward again with the torch in front of me.

"Much better." Garel mumbles, falling in step behind me. I transform my weapon into the broadsword again, putting it on my back while I keep an ear out for any monsters that will appear. I start to grin as I imagine this as one of the many sewers I've been forced to move through to get to an assassination mission, just to be ambushed by other assassins. The familiar scenery is already affecting me and my hand is twitching in need to cut something, because I know that something will appear.

And appear they did.

With a roar, a few wolf bats emerge from the darkness with their jaws open wide to bite me. Lumen, in panic, uses her slow spell on the creatures. Even with or without her spell, Garel and I could have killed them since we already were on edge, but with the enemies being slower certainly makes it easier. So with three precise slashes at their weak points, the monsters burst due to being killed.

While Lumen hovers off to the side, catching her breath because of her earlier panic, I gather the coins, wings and teeth that the wolf bats left behind. Then, we are on our merry way. If you can call it 'merry' that is.

After a while of just walking, slaying monsters and leveling up my spells, I get a pretty interesting PM from someone…

"_Uhm… Excuse me Sabre, but could I talk to you for a minute?_"

I pause in cutting an ogre to half when I hear the voice in my head, which makes Lumen get enough time to cast a hover spell on the monster before I cut it apart. I block a club that was aiming for my head, shoving the second ogre away just in time to duck underneath a thrown rock, killing the ogre that threw it as well as the ogre next to it by casting a singularity and lightning ball in their direction.

"You can have a bit of my attention in about a minute, it's bound to be interesting if you're the one contacting me, thief. I'm in the middle of a fight." I reply, transforming my katana into a scythe to do a spinning slash around me to drive away the ogres somewhat. I manage to cut off an arm and cut open ones stomach with my spin. Lolidragon nervously laughs at the other end of our conversation while Lumen uses her 'increase crit. hit' spell on me and Garel whilst the dragon uses his challenging roar to draw attention towards him.

"_A-ah, I see. I'll wait, take your time._"

I don't bother in answering her, using the ogre's distraction to my advantage and run between the monsters, cutting them up with my scythe as I run. Those who were already severely hurt dies while the healthier ones only need one more hit until they too die. So I use my second curse spell by licking away some of the blood still stuck on my weapon. Most of the monsters fall down to their knees, roaring in pain and dying. The rest of the ogres are burnt by Garel's fire wave, me and Lumen being free from harm by the powerful fire since I create a water shield with Lumen quickly flying inside it with me. The whole room we're in is completely enveloped in flames until it gradually calms down. Now, all that is left are coins and trinkets, some trinkets burning red but most of them being intact.

I let down the water shield and the three of us cooperate on gathering all the loot we got. Lumen carrying the coins while Garel and I take the heavier stuff. Once everything is safely within my pouches, as well as Garel's, I contact Lolidragon again while we continue walking through the cave.

"So, what did you want? This better be something good for contacting me like this."

"_S-sabre! You're done! Well, that's good, haha…_"

"Quit wasting my time and tell me what you want." I snap at her, narrowing my eyes in slight irritation. If this woman is contacting me, it's for a very good reason since she would rather not talk to me at all. And if this good reason will have a chance of benefiting me, I'll hear her out.

"_Y-yeah, sorry. You know about how we won a city during that tournament. We're a little short on manpower so we wanted to ask you-._"

"If it's about joining your city, you can forget it." I scoff at the very idea of me joining their city. If I'll join anything, it would be an assassin's guild that would make me kill every day and not let me get bored. I may be able to live in their castle, but I won't work for them. "I'm not going to become a part of some city, protecting it with all I have. I don't take orders from anyone, so whoever gave you the idea of me joining your forces must be crazy to even consider it."

"_I-it's not perminately!_" Lolidragon exclaims in slight panic. My irritation over the conversation dims down slightly at her comment; they want to hire me it seems. "_An enemy of ours have declared war on Infinite city and we don't have that many men who are skilled in all areas. It's just for a few days where we prepare for the war. That's why we're asking you to join us. We can give you gold as payment if you want._"

I think over what she just said. They're going to war against an enemy. I haven't been to a war since 2080 and it's a lot of fun to kill anyone in sight. I quickly cut apart a monster that tried to pounce on me, continue on walking like nothing happened. And I could get anything I want from participating in this. Infinite city, as Lolidragon called it, will be my 'resting place' where I can just sit back and relax from those ridiculous fan girls. Making my stay there even more comfortable would be having a dango shop there where I can just sit down and eat. That sounds very appealing…

"Well… I've always wanted to kill anyone in sight without that annoying 'infamous ranking' making me a criminal… Although, I won't take gold as payment, I have too much of it in the first place. If you build a dango shop in the city where I'll get free food I'll take it as payment. But don't expect me to follow orders and care for the city's well-being. You can give me a position but other than that, I'll go on a rampage. I haven't killed any players in a long time."

"_Yeah, we can arrange that. All terms are acceptable. When are you due on coming to the city?_"

I snort at Lolidragon's enthusiastic tone, she is all too happy to accept my terms because I will be a very valuable ally. But perhaps it's a good thing that I'm valuable to them, that way I could manipulate them easier so they can give me what I want. Or I could just take whatever I want but I would rather take the easy way.

"I suppose I'll get there by tomorrow. I discovered a new dungeon on my way to the city and decided to enter it. I'll get out of here soon enough. You better make this war worth my time."

I then close the chat with the thief and bring back my attention to walking through the cave. Since neither of my pets can hear when I'm privately speaking to another player, I decide to relay our next course of actions.

"We're going to join a war at Prince's city once we exit the cave. In return, we'll get a dango shop where we'll eat for free."

Lumen 'pings' happily while Garel grins. They must be thinking of different things, one thinking about dango and the other of war. Actually, Lumen hasn't even tried dango yet, how can she know that she likes it in the first place? Garel has tasted but he doesn't really like it as much as I do… I should really do something about my sweet tooth, it's been 'haunting' me for as long as I can remember. And that is a long time if I get the memory part of my brain kicking. But with that dango shop, I'll get to eat as much as I want anytime. It was too got to pass off the opportunity even though I should work off my sweet tooth.

With an amused snort, I turn around again to focus on the cave again. Remembering to check on mine and my pets' stats, I open up the stats window, starting with me.

"Huh, I'm level 89? I thought my level was much higher… But my stats are good at least. And my spells and techniques are good." I comment, clicking away my stat window to go to Garel's. I'm only interested in his level, since he himself knows how to use all his techniques and abilities, and I nod in satisfaction to see him at level 60. His growth is slower than mine since a pet's growth becomes much slower than a player's when they reach level 40. That's the reason why Garel reached level 40 so fast and managed to talk so soon.

When I click over to Lumen's window, I first watch her spells and abilities, ignoring the sound of a monster roaring at the moment. Garel can take care of that one. That spell 'regenerate MP' will be very useful as well as the 'fairy dust' ability. Making HP and MP regenerate at a faster rate outside of battle is useful; I didn't know she had that. With a sudden ping, the stat window announces that Lumen has gained a level and that she has learned a new spell. 'Teleport'. Maybe we'll use that to get out of here and get to Infinite city then. Maybe I can scare them for a while before settling down in the castle.

Then, I look over towards Lumen's level, only to give it a dead-pan stare in irritation.

"You have to be kidding me… Already…?" I groan and place a hand on my forehead. Seriously? She just had to get to level 40? Now we'll have to stand hearing to her speak and not just make 'ping' sounds? This is fucking great…

"Yeah! We did it! Oh! Hey, Garel, I can talk just like you now!"

And here it starts…

"Great." I say sarcastically, closing the stats window to focus on my two pets. "Now, use teleport to get us out of this cave, Lumen."

Lumen's glow grows brighter because she got happy for some reason, doing a small salute in my direction as I'm walking towards them.

"Yes, sir!" She says happily, flying around me and Garel with some of her 'fairy dust' doing a trail behind her. After three circles around us, we're enveloped in a bright light and in an instant; we're outside the cave where we started. 'Teleport' can only teleport us to a place we've been before. Like a city or outside of a dungeon. The spell can't transport us to the middle of a road but only spawning places or entrances/gates. So even if we wanted to, we wouldn't be able to teleport to the other exit of the cave.

Without sparing a second glance towards my pets, easily overcoming the nauseous feeling of warping since that sometimes happened with my time energy, I start walking in the direction towards Infinite city. Apparently, Lumen didn't feel nauseous by teleporting so she easily flies next to me, absolutely delighted that she can talk now and uses it to the best of her ability. Which is way too much…

"Wow! I can actually speak now and be understood by you two! Not that I want the stupid dragon to understand me but I've always wanted to talk to you Sabre! I've always wanted to ask you so many things and understand my master better! Why do you like killing so much? How can your sword change shape? What are those shops in town? What do they sell? How do you use all those items? Oh! And now I can finally show you how useful I am! You won't regret having me by your side! I'm a lot better than that stupid dragon-!"

I cut her off by slapping her away from me, making the fairy collide harshly with a tree and getting the wind knocked out from her. The fairy falls down to the ground, coughing and placing a small hand on her chest to try and regain her breath. I glare down at the little girl, my hand twitching to take out my gun and shoot her but restrain myself since she is useful to have.

"Just because you have the ability to talk doesn't mean I will allow you to be any more annoying than usual, yet alone think that you are better than my most trusted partner because of your supportive spells. Now get a move on."

With one last glare at the guilty fairy, I continue walking. Not soon after, I hear the flap of Garel's wings, indicating that he has gotten over his nausea and caught up to me. When he lands next to me, he immediately notices my bitter mood and decides to stay quiet. Soon, I hear the fluttering of Lumen's wings catch up to us slowly, staying a few feet behind us for safety reasons. But as time passes by in peaceful silence, I manage to calm down and focus on getting to our location. Somehow sensing my better mood, Lumen hesitantly flies closer to me.

"I… I'm sorry, Sabre… For… for acting arrogant… and self-important… I… I shouldn't have said those things I did, let alone placed myself above Garel in my own ranking like that. I know that he's stronger than me but… Using that teleporting spell… made me feel like I could do anything… I spoke with the rush of the moment so for that I apologize."

I glance over to the fairy next to me, seeing that her wings are a little crooked and that her face is pained by holding herself upright. I scoff in annoyance, thinking that she will slow us down soon enough when her injuries turn out worse if she continues on flying. So with a quick movement, I grab the fairy and place her on my expanded shoulder plate which Garel used before he became too large to sit there. I don't answer her, silently agreeing that she spoke out of line. Whatever made her speak so highly of herself has at least disappeared.

I can practically hear Lumen get happy by my action, which makes me frown since I didn't intend to make her happy. She would have just slowed us down if she continued flying, that's all there is to it.

"Whatever made you think you're stronger than me, bug?" Garel growls at her, glaring at the fairy with their faces are at the same height. I ignore the two of them with the best of my ability so my irritation won't surface again, but it's really hard since they are right next to me.

"Well, I said I'm sorry, stupid reptile! It was just in the spur of a moment!"

"You have gotten a small bark now that you can form words. I already miss it when you just made angry 'ping' sounds at me."

"Yeah!? Well I-I wish you weren't in this team at all! I just want it to be me and Sabre!"

"Fat chance bug, if anything it should be just be me and Sabre. If you weren't useful in battle, I would already have gotten rid of you."

"So rude! But I should already expect that from you, reptile. You're so rude to everyone but Sabre I bet you haven't talked to anyone other than him."

"In fact, I have. It's just that I don't socialize with fools out of free will. You are a fool as well if you can't take a hint."

"Gah! I don't like you, do you know that!? You're just so angry and bitter all the time if it isn't killing people! What's so good about killing in the first place!? It's just horrible and icky. That's why I love being support!"

"Just the feeling of having a life in your own hands and ending it is the best feeling there is. That's when you feel closest to god you could say. But if you don't like me, how come you like Sabre then? He is pretty similar to how I am."

That question actually makes me interested as well, but I don't let it show. My irritation over their loud conversation easily disappears to hear Lumen's answer. I can feel the fairy's gaze on me, but I don't bother meeting it. It would probably make her flinch, get nervous and not answer truthfully.

"W-well…" She starts out, still staring at me. "He… He's actually beautiful when he kills compared to your brutal style…" Now, that actually surprises me. When we went on our mission, Lumen was close to tears at first when I and Garel killed the monsters so brutally.

"A-at first, I respected him and listened to him because he would kill me if I didn't. I didn't like the way you killed, it was disgusting. But after looking at how bright Sabre's eyes got after killing a monster, I accepted that it's-it's something that he really loves. And that's what made me accept your killing. His eyes were shining like yellow sapphires, full of joy and longing for something more after he killed them~. And the way the blood clung to him only made him more mysterious and made me want to know so much about him~. And when he accepted me as someone useful, I just got so happy for no reasons. Knowing that he wanted to keep me just made me want to know even more about him. He can still be really scary and he could kill me if he gets too irritated, but just knowing that I can be with him and get to know that happy side more, it makes getting scared worth it~. Thanks to Sabre, I don't cry when someone gets killed or get worried over others because I know that he doesn't want me to~. I still don't like killing, but I'm sure I'll get over it and be even more useful to him~. That way, maybe one day, he'll show me that happy side without killing~!"

I and Garel share a blank look while Lumen is off in her own little dream land, wiggling back and forth on her place on my shoulder plate. Are these thoughts the reason I get so many fan girls? Is this what they think of me? Is this why they keep coming back to bug me with their stares and persuasions?! I know I've said it before, but apparently, I haven't said it enough. Females are crazy! I'll never understand them no matter how many life cycles I go through! Sure, I can seduce them, but I'll never, ever, understand what makes females be attracted to my true side!

I sigh loudly, which makes Lumen snap out from her own little dream world. I stare down at her with a blank stare, making the little fairy flinch and inch backwards slightly with her face getting red.

"Seriously? That's why you respect me? Because you want to see that 'happy side' of me when I don't kill? What kind of reason is that? I thought it was because of my power and how can I destroy you in an instant if you don't behave."

I can see Lumen frown through that bright glow of hers, said glow getting even brighter and bluer for some reason. Perhaps it's reacting to her stronger emotions.

"W-well, it's my reason! I want to be useful and helpful so you'll look at me just like you look at the lizard, with approval in your eyes. And how you can sometimes get that spark of satisfaction when Garel understands something you haven't said out loud! I want to be just as important to you; because that means that you won't throw me away. And I don't even want to imagine being thrown away!"

By the end of her little 'speech', she breaks down crying. The tears have gradually been building up as she started to think about being thrown away and now, they are falling freely with loud sobs coming from her mouth. I can feel my annoyance build as she just continues to cry, cry and cry. I have no doubt that it's the same with Garel. And it doesn't seem like she will stop crying anytime soon.

"Just shut up already!" I scream out, my hand placed on the sword on my back as a silent threat to cut her apart. Lumen squeaks in surprise at my sudden shout but it works because she starts to calm down. I continue to glare at her until only small sniffles are heard and small streams of tears falling down her eyes. When I see that she has quieted down, I force myself to remove my hand from the sword hilt. I then look forward again, not standing seeing the pathetic state the fairy is in at the moment.

"Just make sure I don't regret accepting you to the team by being useful. The moment you're too pathetic or doesn't do anything that I want, I'll throw you away. But so far, you're safe."

The small sniffles soon disappear as well with a quiet 'thank you' from Lumen. I frown slightly, now she thinks that I'm being nice when I'm just stating facts. Ugh, I don't like that she sees me that way. But I should get accustomed to it; she is useful to have…

After a while of walking, I decide to cut my trip there short. So I simply jump up on Garel's back, make him grow larger and then we're off through the sky instead. I point him towards the general direction to Infinite city and then I just sit back and relax while Garel flies and Lumen does her best to have a firm grip on the shoulder plate she's slowly slipping off. Groaning in annoyance, I grab Lumen after a few minutes of her screaming in fear and place her on the back of my head. She quickly grabs onto my hair and holds it in a tight grip so she won't slip off. With the screaming gone, I almost forget Lumen's presence completely as only the wind swishing by is the sound I hear.

Pretty soon, we can see a castle with big walls around it in the middle of a wasteland. Coming to the conclusion that it's Infinite city, Garel starts to descend towards the city.

"H-hey, Sabre!" Lumen shouts over the wind. I nod softly to indicate that I'm listening, not bothering to talk since she won't hear me that well in the first place.

"How is our entrance going to be!? Will it be cool?! Scary!? To make an impression!?"

Garel glance back at me from over his shoulder, grinning at the same time I do. Oh, it will be all of those. Maybe Lumen will throw off our image slightly but I don't doubt that our presence will be so powerful that we 'over shine her' so to say. After getting closer to the city, someone suddenly attacks us without reason. Of course, Garel dodge the shot easily and with my 'zoom in' mode, I easily pick out the NPC mage and shoot him dead. A flurry of activity happen among the players down below, running all around the place either to prepare the wall or get panicked over the sudden attack. I can also see some be awed and scared over Garel's appearance. The NPC guards' tries to attack us once more, but I distantly hear a man shout out an order and the guards hesitantly lower their staffs and arrows.

With a roar, Garel flies over the wall, pushing off an NPC guard that wanted to attack us just for good measure, before he descends towards the ground with a 'thump'. The players, of course, ran away from the place Garel planned to land on so they could give me space. To intensify the 'cool' and 'scary' image, Garel snorts out some red flames towards the ground. Once I've jumped off his back, Garel shrinks down and dutifully walks behind me as I make my way towards the castle. The players part like the red sea to make way for me and my partner with whispers sounding around us.

"T-that's pure lightning, Sabre…"

"Did Prince manage to recruit _him_ into this?"

"Whoa, to be on friendly terms with this guy…"

I take off my broadsword and point it in the direction I heard that whisper come from, glaring at the crowd and finding the gaze of a very nervous male player. Without any hesitation, I transform my sword into a gun and shoot him, not even bothering to ask if he was the one who said it. The tension intensifies tenfold when the guy flies off as a light towards the reviving spot.

"I'm not on friendly terms with anyone." I state seriously, the 'setback' of my upgrade kicking in and sending of a wave of killer intent. "I was just hired for a job, nothing more, nothing less."

"Yeah!"

The tension lessens slightly when they hear the squeaky voice of Lumen and notice the blue fairy sitting on top of my head. She changed position when we landed so she could see what was happening. But right now, she has a large grin on her face, waving towards the players who are finally noticing her.

"He always kills those who talk to him; he doesn't have any friends at all. He'll even kill me if I do something he doesn't want me to do!" And she said that all the while wearing a bright smile on her face. At least it brought the tension back.

"Pure lightning Sabre." A man calls out with respect, making me turn in that direction since he is at least polite when he addresses me. The sea of players part to give way for their commander. With his armour, cape, black hair pulled up in a ponytail with the front of his hair being bleached and a tattoo covering the left side of his eye clearly shows that he's a warrior and most likely their commander. I don't let his title make me any more polite towards him in return, simply putting one hand in my pocket while the other holding my gun hangs limply to my side.

"Who are you? The commander of this place?"

The warrior bows slightly, a serious look on his face once he meets my eyes again. "Yes, I am Nan Gong Zui, One of the three-head generals of Prince's army. I am honoured that you will be fighting for our side in this battle."

I scoff at his overly polite words. It's almost like he's trying to suck up to me by praising me indirectly. I'll only acknowledge him if he is proven to be strong enough to back it up. Although, I do transform my pistol back to the broadsword and strap it to my back as a small sign of acceptance but afterwards I glare at him to show that I don't acknowledge him yet.

"Yeah, yeah, sure. I don't care who wins this war, I'll just fight for the sake of fighting." My comment makes Lumen giggle slightly, knowing that I also do it for free dango. But I swat her away to shut her up without any remorse. Zui is a little shocked at my actions, staring at the little fairy that is couching on the ground by the feet of a player.

"Aren't you one of those guys during the tournament? The one who led the humans?" I ask, realising that I've seen him before. The man looks back at me, seeing that the fairy is alright, with a small nod of his head.

"Yes, I and my guild have decided to join Infinite city to show that we are supporting Prince as our leader."

I scoff lightly at the thought of Prince being a good leader. Sure, he got the image and presence down but he won't be able to handle the responsibilities with it. Not with that light-hearted attitude of his. Without sparing him any parting words, I continue to walk towards the castle. I hear Lumen apologize for my attitude, saying that I'm like that to everyone, before she follows me as well. When she tries to sit down on my head, I lightly flick her away. Her wings are healed now; she doesn't need to sit on me anymore. Nan Gong Zui yells out to resume work and soon I hear the players get back to what they were doing before I came.

The different players and NPC's are still working on the houses around the town, but most of the building is aimed towards the outer walls. Since they are going to war, they obviously need a strong defence. Once I've gotten to the castle, I see that Odd squad and some other players are already there to greet me. I have a bored look on my face with my hands in my pockets as I walk towards them. Almost on command, my 'setback' activates when I'm within hearing distance with the group and because of it they are now very tense and uncomfortable. But even so, Lolidragon steps forward to greet me with open arms. The little girl, Doll, hides from me behind Wolf.

"Welcome, Sabre! Why did you come earlier than you said you would? We would have cleared more ground for you to land on and warned the NPC's to not attack you."

"The fairy learned the spell teleportation. The cave had gotten boring so I let her teleport us out and come early." I tell her, to which Lumen flies up next to my head, cheerfully waving at the crowd of people. Upon seeing the woman thief, she immediately flies over and starts to hover around her hair, softly stroking it with her little hands.

"Oh, wow! Your hair is so pretty! You _have_ to tell me how you make your hair like this! Oh, oh! Can I braid your hair sometime? You would look absolutely _gorgeous_ with what I'm thinking of!"

To say that the players are shocked by Lumen's bubbly personality is an understatement. With dumb expressions on their faces, they look between the cheerful Lumen and the bored me. I scoff at their expressions, stopping a small distance away from Lolidragon with Lumen dutifully flying back to my side, hovering on my left side while Garel steps forward on my right side.

"So why the hell did you want me to come earlier? I would have come earlier anyway since I'll choose my room in the castle but you obviously think you can make me do something while I'm here. Depending on what it is, I might do it."

"Oh! Yes, well-." Lolidragon cuts herself off when what I said fully registers in her brain and she stares at me with a confused expression. "Wait… Choose a room in the castle…?"

I smirk at the look of horror growing on her face, nodding my head. "Yeah, I will live in the castle when I'm not out hunting monsters or at the other cities. Prince gave me a place at the castle when I met him in real life; he looked pretty scared of me so he offered it to not make me hurt him. I have also promised to not stir up _too_ much trouble while I'm within this city's walls."

Lolidragon and the rest of the players behind her relax slightly when they hear that I won't stir up too much trouble while I'm here, but they are still tense. Garel snorts out some red flames to get Lolidragon back to her senses, making the thief look towards the dragon.

"Now answer his question, woman. What did you want him to do for coming early?"

"W-well…" She starts off, looking at me with a nervous smile. "I assume that you are a weapon expert judging by how you can handle all forms of your weapon so well, so we would really appreciate it if you could help in advancing our warriors skills in both arching and swordsmanship. Also that perhaps your dragon can help us in carrying the heavier parts of the wall to the top if needed."

Both Garel and I glare at Lolidragon about the request of Garel carrying things and I step closer for further intimidation, even though she is slightly taller than I am. This time, it's my own killer intent that is released that makes her back off slightly.

"What the hell do you take my dragon for? A horse? Why the hell would you even think that he would accept such a despicable job? And training? Heh, I won't train anyone unless they seem promising in their skill. Don't waste my time with such annoying requests if you know they will be refused."

With that, I walk past her towards the castle gates, set on finding a vacant, good room for me to sleep in when I'm here. The group parts way for me with uneasy expressions on their faces but before I can walk past them, a hand appears in front of me to block my way. I frown up at the swordsman blocking my way, namely the swordsman of black Phantom and brother of Prince. I can see the fear in his eyes when I look at him, but he determinately meets my gaze.

"Why not use your other personality when you're in Infinite city then?"

My frown grows deeper at his question and Garel growls in annoyance at the swordsman's hold up. His gaze flickers behind me for a short second, probably towards his teammates, before he looks back towards me with more determination in his eyes than before.

"If you won't stir up too much trouble, why not use your other personality when you're in Infinite city? Why not use your other personality so you'll be willing to help us? You don't have to be-."

A second later, the swordsman is punched aside by me, but with no real force behind the hit but only made him fall backwards slightly winded. I glare down at him, a dangerous grin on my face as I point a finger at him with sparks around the finger in preparation to launch a small 'lightning beam' at him.

"Don't think you are anything special just because we met in real life. You may know me, but that doesn't mean anything to me. Didn't I tell you not to confuse me here and me in real life?" My grin grows just a little bit wider. "We're completely different people; I can't even hear him in the game."

I then release my lightning beam, the spell brushing against his neck as a small warning and leaving a burn mark behind. The pain doesn't register to his brain just yet though, too shocked that he was just spared by me and just stare at me dumbly. I can't help but throw my head back and laugh at that stupid expression with that 'setback' kicking in when I start laughing. This makes my laughter seem even more unpleasant to them, which is a good thing. My pets aren't affected by the 'setback' for some reason though.

"That's a great expression you have." I tell the swordsman once I've stopped laughing, grinning down at him. I stomp my foot into his stomach, making him grimace in pain. I dig my heel into his stomach for three seconds before I let up. I glance towards the rest of the players, sensing the intent on attacking when I stomped on his stomach before. I start to snicker slightly at their tense positions and wary expressions. Feeling oddly elated with hurting the swordsman, I lazily point at the blonde Dark elf who is the tensest one out of the group.

"You better remember that I'm not a nice person."

The elf gives me a silent threat with placing his hand on the hilt of his sword, making me give a short laugh at his empty threat. I turn around without any worry and proceed to walk into the castle with a hand waving over my shoulder.

"You should know not to show your claws to a greater being, kitten. You are 100 years too early to stand a chance against me."

Garel and Lumen follow me with Lumen staying a little longer by saying goodbye to the group of players. I release a content sigh, not really knowing why I'm so content in scaring that swordsman. But not deciding to dwell on it, I just bask in the feeling while I walk down the corridors. Lumen flies by my face, smiling happily when she speaks to me.

"There it was Sabre! That happy side appeared for a moment!"

I ignore her comment, since I'll probably start to think about it and ruin my good mood, to walk up a flight of stairs. I want a room that's high up so no one will climb up there or see me if I decide to look outside. Lumen chatters about nonsense which I don't bother to listen to as we walk through the castle, from time to time opening doors to see if it's a good room to sleep in. It takes me a long time to find anything of my tastes but it's a pretty spacious room with a bed, night table and a closet. The bed in broad and is placed along the wall in the middle of the room, right next to the large window where you can see the whole city from. The floor is stone floor as well as the walls, but that doesn't bother me. I'm satisfied with its position and view and that's what's important.

I lie down on the bed, finding it satisfying to lie on. Nodding to myself, I tell them that this will be my room and that they can go off to do whatever. But I also tell Lumen to tell the players that I will log out now. So with my 'duties' done in the game, I log out to do my 'duties' in real life. I still have to buy food and stuff. Most of the things are done already, but I have to be prepared for anything since I'm on the run.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

And there it is everyone! I wrote a little more on how Lumen interacts with them and also showed how he'll be included in the war. Next chapter will be placed in real life to show what is happening there. We're not far from the end of this story you guys! It's getting closer!

Heng Shi: Good. I hope that I'll still remain somewhat of a mystery during the story.

Well, somewhat. But Heng Shi, you've been really nice during this chapter so even if you don't want it, I'll give you a present.

Heng Shi: I said I didn't want one.

Yeah, you did, but I don't care! Your Christmas present is a vacation! So here, -holds up a suitcase- take this with you and travel wherever you want. Just make sure not to bring any attention towards you!

Heng Shi: -stares at the suitcase for a few seconds before he sits up and take it from me- Alright, I guess a vacation is a satisfying present… Don't call me back for a while.

-waves towards Heng Shi while he walks towards the exit of our little 'studio'- Be careful now, and make sure to come back when I tell you to! –turns towards you readers once Heng Shi is gone- Now, I said that I had a question for you, didn't I?

This is how it is; I've been thinking about the ending to this story a lot and have decided for an ending. (You can guess which ending I'll have at a poll in my profile. I'm really curious to how you guys think this story will end.) This question is just to satisfy a little curiosity I've been thinking of for a while now.

**Are you pairing Heng Shi with anyone?**

Because I am really curious if anyone has seen any hints and is pairing Heng Shi with anyone.

Well, that's all for me. I hope you had a good holiday and that this chapter is good enough to be a present to you guys. And also, huge thanks to DarkNekoGreece for being my 100th reviewer! –spins around happily- I'm so happy to get so many reviews from you guys! Thank you!

**Oh, and don't hesitate to say something you want to happen. It would help me a lot with filling the 'gaps' I have in my plot line.**

Bye guys~! Hope to see ya soon~!


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